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OLD DOMINION SOCIETY 



OF THE CITY OF NEW- YORK, 



A.jSrN I V EH S A.R Y 



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TIIK ISth of may, 1G07 



HON. GEORGE VT. SUMMERS, ORATOR. 




I'UDNEY & RUSSELL, 

No. 7D JOHN-STP. 
18G0 



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PIRST CELEBRATION 



ANNIVERSAEY 



it laitwiit0iiL fa 



ON THE 



13TH OF MAY, 1607. 



HON. GEORGE W. SUMMERS, 



ORATOR 




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iJto-WjrIi: 

rUDNEY & RUSSELL, PRINTERS, 

No, 79 JOHN-STREET. 
1860. 



(o'ff 



Jjrsl Cjhhiiljflii 

BY THE 

OLD DOMINION SOCIETY, 

OF THE 

SETTLEMENT AT JAMESTOWN, 

On the 13th of May, 1607. 



The anniversary occurring on Sunday, the delivery of the 
address was fixed for Monday, the 14th, in the Great Hall of 
the Cooper Institute, that the public generally might have an 
opportunity of being present. The Banquet was deferred until 
the next day. In accordance with this arrangement, the So- 
ciety, with its invited guests and the citizens generally, as- 
sembled at the Cooper Institute, when Col. Wm. M. Peyton 
acting as chairman, called the meeting to order at 8 o'clock, p. m. 

The Rev. Dr. Hoje, chaplain of the Society, being invited 
to address the throne of grace, offered up a prayer of great 
fervor and beauty. 

Colonel Peyton then rose, and remarked, that as this was the 
first occasion on which the Virginians resident in the city of 
New-York, had prasented themselves before the public in their 
organized capacity as the Old Dominion Society, he would 
offer a few words of explanation, as an introduction of the So- 
ciety and Orator of the evening, to the public. 

This Emporium, continued Colonel Peyton, the great 
heart of this mighty nation, the centre of its trade and com- 



merce, both domestic and foreign, by its strong attractions, 
draws to its bosom a broad and steady stream of migration 
from all the States of our confederacy as well as from foreign 
countries. Hence, said Mr, Peyton, it embraces within its 
limits what forms a most important element of its teeming 
population, a large representation from each State in the Union, 
and of every government on the habitable globe, which has 
been liberalized by the ameliorating influences of commerce, or 
illumined by the lights of civilization. Each of these repre- 
sentations, said Mr. Peyton, bring with them, from the homes 
of their nativity to the homo of their adoption, and preserve, 
with cherished fondness, the sacred love of their Father- 
land. A generation, fellow-citizens, said Colonel P., will not 
suffice to wear out the tender recollections of the homes of 
their birth ; or the sacred spots which enshrine the bones of 
their venerated ancestors ; or the deeply graven impressions of 
childhood ; or the remembrance of schoolboy sports and youth- 
ful attachments. These, said Colonel Peyton, with the mem- 
ories of their country's trials and their country's triumphs, 
cluster around their hearts and cling to them through life, 
while all that was odious, or painful, or disagreeable, is cov- 
ered up in oblivion. Such, fellow-citizens, said Mr. P., is hu- 
man nature. If I may be allowed to use the felicitous idea of 
a gifted friend, whose thoughts always sparkle with the bril- 
liancy of true gems, I would say that there is a merciful influ- 
ence in absence, which scatters a benevolence of recollection 
over those from whom we are separated. It melts down pre- 
judices ; it extinguishes animosities ; it pours a Lethean stream 
over faults and injuries ; and gives to the affections themselves 
a deeper tone of tenderness. It sheds over the past and the 
absent a moonlight glory, pale and pure, more serene and 
lovely than the fiercest glow from a meridian sun. The flow- 



ers wliicli have bloomed in the youthful heart, when thus illu- 
mined, appear softer and more beautiful, while everything dis- 
agreeable, or like deformity, sinks into a shade which the eye 
cannot penetrate. Hence, fellow-citizens, said Mr. P., you 
find the generous-spirited sons of Erin, under the auspices 
of the distinguished gentleman on my right (the President 
of St. Patrick's Society*), organized into an association such 
as we are now inaugurating, annually, ^around the festive 
board, pouring out libations to their honored ancestors, and 
revivifying the glorious recollections of their native land. So 
with the St. G-eorge's Society, the representative of our mother- 
country and her overflowing treasures of fame and glory, in 
which we have a common inheritance. So of the Saint 
Nicholas Society, who represent the Doric capital of the social 
column of the Empire State. So of the Germans and other 
foreigners, each with their own peculiar associations ; all, 
however, inaugurated for the same purpose, all animated by 
the same feeling, and all tending to the same end. 

Among our citizens called native, in contradistinction to 
those to whom we have just alluded, because they happened to 
reach our shores a few days earlier, the New-England Society 
has been most conspicuous. Embracing among its members 
the citizens not merely of one, but of all the Eastern States — 
numbering a large representation in this city, and embodying a 
vast amount of worth and talent — it has, on its annual festive 
occasions, l(jst no oppoitunity of bringing'prominently before the 
country its men of genius, and has thus, said Mr. Peyton, con- 
tributed largely to the intellectual fame of New-England, 
while it has animated and strengthened the patriotism of her 
citizens. 

* The gentleman here referred to was not, as Sir. P. supposed, the President 
of St. Patrick's Society, but Mr. Norrie, President of St. Andrew's Society. 



Inspired by these examples, said Colonel Peyton, actuated 
by similar views, the Virginians resident in New- York have 
organized the " Old Dominion Society," and at this, its' first 
celebration of the settlement at Jamestown, on the 13th of 
May, 1607, just thirteen years before the landing of the Pilgrim 
Fathers on Plymouth Rock, we have, in order to illustrate the 
event, invited to deliver an oration on this occasion, one of 
Virginia's gifted sons, the Hon George "W. Summers, who I 
now, ladies and gentlemen, have the pleasure of introducing 
to you. 

Mr. Summers being received with loud applause, proceeded 
to read the folio win 2: address : 



ADDRESS. 



In the month of December last, " the citizens of Virginia, 
with their descendants, resident in the city of New- York and its 
vicinity, holding in affectionate reverence the State of their birth 
and adoption, and desiring to cultivate by suitable ceremonies the 
memories of her glorious history, and to promote, by acts of social 
intercourse and mutual charity, a unity of feeling in all that 
affects the interests of that noble old Commonwealth," insti- 
tuted an Association, to be called the " Old Dominion Society." 

Native born citizens of Virginia ; descendants of Virginian 
parents, by one generation ; and persons who, by former resi- 
dence in the State of Virginia, acquired citizenship there, are 
made eligible to membership ; honorary members, without regard 
to those qualifications, may be elected by the unanimous vote 
of those present at any regular, or called meeting of the so- 
ciety. 

The second article of the Constitution of this Association 
provides, that " the anniversary day of this Society shall be 
the 13th day of May, and shall be commemorated with suita- 
ble ceremonies, in honor of the Jamestown Colony, May, 
13th, 1607." 

Having been honored by an invitation from the executive 
committee to address the society, at this its first anniversary 
meeting, I come, in obedience to the call, but with unaffected 
diffidence, to contribute my mite, in the ceremonials of an oc- 
casion, so replete with historic interest, and so suggestive of 
patriotic hope and exultation. 



8 



The meditations of this day are alike remote from tlie exci- 
ting topics of partisan politics, and the controversies of sectar- 
ian religion. The duties which we are to perform are com- 
memorative, not aggressive. The fame and achievements of 
our fathers are safe from the passion and folly of the present 
hour, however we may he rent and tossed by their influence. 
Their virtue, and wisdom, and heroism, are written in a hook, 
engraven in the rock with an iron pen, and with lead forever, 
a lesson to cheer and guide us, if we follow the cfdmonitions 
and encouragements which it imparts ; a judgment of with- 
ering condemnation to stand out against us in the gaze of all 
the ages to come, if we falter with our duty, or renounce the 
inheritance which has been carved out for us. 

In this great commercial emporium of the Union, where 
every nation finds its representative, societies of like character 
with that whose organ I have the honor to be on this occasion, 
are numerous. Natives of Great Britain and of Continental 
Europe, invited to these shores by the liberality of our institu- 
tions, and welcomed to our bosoms as brethren, delight to re- 
member the land of their birth, and, by appropriate organiza- 
tions and ceremonies, to demonstrate that attachment and rev- 
erence for the homes of their infancy, is not incompatible with 
the duties of good citizenship, in the home of their adoption. 

The New-England Society has abundant cause to rejoice in 
the annual celebration of the landing at Plymouth, in 1620. 

These several societies have no rivalries or opposition to each 
other ; on the contrary, they excite mutual sympathy and res- 
pect. They are each founded on a sentiment of filial piety — 
love of home and of kindred. 

I am sure they are all prepared to admit into their circle, a 
sister institution, formed for the purpose of commemorating 
the first successful attempt to plant the Anglo-Saxon race on 



9 

the American Continent. Wc arc persuaded that, apart from 
the fact of priority of settlement, ample cause will be found in 
the history and character of Virginia, her early and continued 
devotion to free principles, the share which she has had in 
moulding the institutions of the country, and the large pro- 
portion of the present po])ulation of the United States which 
has descended from her, to justify her children at home and 
abroad, in gathering around the family tree, to admire the 
stately proportions of its venerable trunk, and the beauty of 
its wide-spreading branches and its goodly fruit. 

While the absence of personal merit is not to bo compensa- 
ted by claims, however well founded, to ancestral renown, nei- 
ther should a veneration for illustrious progenitors be regarded as 
a mere pardonable weakness, but rather as a sentiment to be 
cherished and honored. It is among the highest incitements 
to virtuous action, and one of the strongest safeguards against 
personal degradation. In the more expanded relation of com- 
munities and states, pride of ancestry becomes relieved of the 
indelicacy which attaches to egotism, and is sanctioned as a 
natural impulse of the public heart. Poets, orators, and his- 
torians, have delighted to trace the descent of heroes, families, 
and nations, to high originals, and have not hesitated to invoke 
gods and goddesses to lend traditional glory to the marvel of 
their narrative. 

Our origin is not obscured by the mists of time, nor does it 
need the embellishment of fiction. Virginia owes her primi- 
tive occupancy to the spirit of personal and mercantile adven- 
ture. The successive attempts of Sir Walter Raleigh and his 
associates, to "deduce a colony" on the coast of North Caro- 
lina, from Ihe year 1584 to 1590, although accompanied by re- 
peated disasters, and terminating in the total loss of the colon- 
ists, under circumstances which could not be discovered at the 



10 



time, and have never been satisfactorily explained, yet served to 
acquire and carry home new and interesting information, offer- 
tile and unclaimed regions, and to intensify the desire to know 
more of the country discovered by Columbus and Cabot. The 
accounts given by the returning voyagers of the exceeding 
richness of its soil, the delightful temperature, its magnificent 
forests, the vine-clad shores of its bays and inlets, with the 
purple clusters dipping in the waves, awakened the liveliest in- 
terest in England, which reaching royalty itself, in exultation 
of such an expansion of her dominion, Elizabeth stood god- 
mother to this new offspring of English prowess, and, in consid- 
eration of her own state and condition, bestowed upon it the 
name of " Virginia." 

From 1590, except the repeated expeditions sent by Raleigh 
to discover and relieve the lost colony at Roanoke, all of which 
proved abortive, nothing further was attempted toward the 
occupancy of the country until 160G. The misfortunes which 
had hitherto attended every etTort at colonization checked the 
ardor of adventure. England had become engaged in a war 
with Spain, and the menaces of her boasted armada evoked 
the military spirit of such men as Drake and Raleigh to nearer 
and more stirring scenes of action. 

By a deed, bearing date on the 7th day of March, 1589, Ra- 
leigh assigned the patent which he had obtained from Eliza- 
beth, of March the 24th, 1584. to Thomas Smith and others. 
In this instrument he is styled " Sir Walter Raleigh, Chief 
Governor of Affamacomac {probabii/ Accomac), alias Winga- 
DACOA, alias Virginia." 

Bartholomew Gosnold was the first to revive the spirit of 
colonial enterprise. He had made several voyages to the nor- 
thern coast of the United States. He seems to have greatly 
admired the aspect of the country, its apparent fertility and 



11 

its salubrious air. Through his zeal and active exertions, the 
merchants of London, Bristol, and Plymouth, were induced to 
believe that a profitable traffic in furs, skins, timber, and other 
commodities (to say nothing of the precious metals, of which 
an unexplored country did not deny hope), might be establish- 
ed, through the agency of a trading commercial company. 

Perhaps nothing contributed so much to enlist public confi- 
dence in the scheme of Gosnold and his associates, certainly 
nothing tended more to insure its success, than that it was 
most ardently and zealously embraced by John Smith. 

He was an English cavalier and soldier of fortune, about 
twenty-eight years of age, whose wonderful adventures and 
achievements, but that they are so well attested, would seem 
to belono^ to the creations of romance rather than the realities 
of sober history. To the most daring intrepidity, he united 
great quickness and correctness of judgment, and an equanimity 
of mind which never deserted him under the most trying and 
appalling circumstances. He had fought for the independence 
of Batavia, had lent himself to the service of Transylvania, in 
her v/ars with the Mohammedans, had so signalized himself as a 
knight, in single combat, as to be entitled to add to his heral- 
dic emblazonry three Turks' heads, with the motto " Vincere 
est vivereP In the fortunes of war he had been imprisoned 
and enslaved. Twice he had been relieved by the pity and 
gentleness of woman. He had sought new perils in Morocco, 
and now, having returned to England, with all the enthusiasm 
of his nature, and in the ripeness of his varied experience, he was 
ready to give himself to the labor of founding a new State in 
the wilderness. 

A charter or patent was readily obtained from James tho 
First, which bears date on the 10th day of April, 1C06, grant- 
ing to Sir Thomas Gates and others, the country, from tho 



12 



34tli to the -l-^tli parallel of latitude, and extending from 
Cape Fear to Halifax. 

This was divided between two companies, who were to 
colonize Northern and Southern Virginia. The first company, 
destined for the South, having procured three small vessels, 
the largest of which did not exceed one hundred tons burden. 
Under the command of Christopher Newport, the little fleet, 
with one hundred and five persons on board, among whom 
was the gallant John Smith, set sail from Blackwell on the 
Thames, on the 19th day of December, 1606. 

The geography of the sea was not understood at that day as 
it is now, nor was the art of navigation. The adventurers 
having remained, for a time, at the Canary Islands, did not 
reach the southern coast of the United States until the follow- 
ing spring. The charter authorized this company to make 
their settlement at any place which they might select, between 
the 34th and 4 1st parallels of latitude. It is quite certain that 
they intended to attempt a settlement at or near the locality 
that Ptaleigh's colony had formerly occupied. It was, howev- 
er, ordered otherwise. The " mariners had three days past 
their recksning, and found no land." The officer in command 
of one of the vessels, despairing of making harbor, was about 
to turn his course for England, when fortunately, or providen- 
tially, a fnrious storm arose, and, on the 26th day of April, 
1607, the ships were borne, by the violence of the gale, into 
the magnificent bay of the Chesapeake. 

Passing the headlands which form the entrance to the bay, 
they called the one Cape Henry, and the other Cape Charles, 
after the two sons of the reigning king. 

Here we might pause to contemplate for a moment the emo- 
tions which the occasion was so well calculated to inspire in 
the bosoms of the colonists. 



13 

They were the first of the Caucasian race, so far as is cer- 
tainly kno^yn, whose sails had passed between these Capes, or 
whose eyes had beheld the scene of panoramic beauty now 
spread out before them. Here was a noble expanse of tran- 
quil water, surrounded on all sides, except its outlet to the 
sea, by shores clothed with forests, which seemed to have stood 
since the world began. The air, in this, the early spring, came 
laden with the perfume of opening bud and blossom. Numer- 
ous rivers discharged themselves into the bay, whose breadth 
and volume indicated distant sources, and whose currents, 
perhaps, rolled down the treasures of golden sierras. The 
presence of wild fowl and fish, in countless numbers, and of 
the most delicious varieties, suggested the facility and abun- 
dance of human subsistence. 

Captain Smith, who was not only destined to be the preser- 
ver of the colony, but was its first historian, after describing 
the entrance to the Chesapeake, says, in his quaint but nervous 
style : " Within is a country that may have the prerogative 
over the most pleasant places knoivn, for large and pleasant 
navigable rivers. Heaven and earth never agreed better to 
frame a place for man's habitation, were it fully cultivated, 
and inhabited by industrious people. Here are mountains, 
hills, plaincs, valley es, rivers and brookes, all running most 
pleasantly into a fair e bay, compassed, but for the mouth, with 
fruitful and delightsome land.^'' * * * 

" These rivers wash from the rocks such glistering tinctures 
that the ground, in some places, seemeth as guilded, ivhere 
both the rocks and the earth are so splendent to behold, that 
better iudgments than ours might haue beene perswadcd they 
contained more than pjrobabilitics. The vesture of the earth, 
in most places, doth manifestly proue the nature of the soyle 
to be lusty and very rich." 



14 

Having spent the intermediate time in searching for a suit- 
able place to plant themselves, the emigrants, with their little 
squadron, entered a noble river, called by the natives " Pow- 
hattan," but vvhich they named " James's River," in honor of 
the king, by virtue of whose patent they claimed the country. 
After assending this stream some fifty miles, they selected a 
peninsula on the north bank, on account of its anchorage, and 
supposed convenience for defence, to which they gave the 
name of " Jamestown." Here they landed on the 13th day 
of May, 1607; and here and then began the Commonwealth 
of Virginia, one hundred and nine years after the discovery of 
the American continent by Cabot, forty years after the settle- 
ment of Florida, by the Spaniards, at St. Augustine, and thir- 
teen years before the Pilgrims laid the foundation of New-Eng- 
land, in the colony at Plymouth. 

It will not be expected that I should attempt to trace, with 
any minuteness, the gradual expansion of this germ of civil- 
ization through years of weakness and colonial dependence, or 
through other years of revolutionary struggle and triumph, 
until it reached maturity under the forms and safeguards of 
popular representative governments, and the protection of reg- 
ulated constitutional freedom. This would rather pertain to 
the office of the historian. 

The early annals of the colony, though scant of details, show 
such a degree of extreme trial and suffering as, without belief 
in a controlling power which guides the affairs of men, would 
leave us in amazement that it was not totally extinguished. 
Disease, famine, mutiny, and Indian massacre, were the fear- 
ful agencies which assailed the enterprise. During the first 
year their number was reduced to about forty, the active and 
sagacious Gosnold being among those whose system had given 
way, under the intolerable summer heat and pestilential mala- 



15 



ria of their new home. Thoy had arrived too late in the season 
to open kind and rely upon their own tillage for subsistence. 
The protracted voyage had served to consume the supplies 
which they had brought from England, except what was 
necessary for the return of Newport, who, having been hired 
by the company as a mariner, to transport the colonists, and 
having, with Captain Smith and others, explored the river as 
far up as the falls, where Richmond is now situated, sailed for 
England on the 22d day of June. 

The colony was only preserved by the patience, courage, and 
good sense of Smith, who may be emphatically called the 
father of Virginia. In the most pressing periods of want he 
obtained supplies from the natives, sometimes by purchase and 
presents, sometimes, under the spur of necessity, by force. He 
explored the Chesapeake, as also the adjacent land and rivers. 
He suppressed dissensions in the little band at Jamestown, 
Repeatedly, by his timely and daring interposition, did he frus- 
trate attempts of the mutinous and despairing colonists to 
abandon the settlement and escape to England in one of the 
small vessels left by Newport. In one instance he was com- 
pelled to resort to the use of arms, and Kendall, a member of 
the council, fell a victim to his own perfidious effort to break 
up the enterprise. Always ardent and hopeful, Smith never 
despaired of ultimate success. 

He found the country in possession of a nomadic race, the 
question of whose origin, though long the subject of ingenious 
speculation, has not, even in our day, found a satisfactory so- 
lution. According to Smith's estimate, there were, within sixty 
miles of Jamestown, and between the bay and the falls of the 
river, some five thousand Indians, capable of furnishing fifteen 
hundred warriors. These were divided into numerous tribes, 
governed by their respective kings or werrowances, but con- 



16 



federated under a chief ruler, or emperor This confederation 
had been brought about by Powhattan, the principal chieftain 
at the time of the arrival of the colony. His hereditary posses- 
sions seem to have been much more limited, and to have been 
enlarged by his own conquests and address as far as the Patux- 
ent, in Maryland. This monarch sometimes resided at a town 
of his own name, near the falls of James river, but his favorite 
residence was at Werowocomoco, situated on the Pamunkey, 
now York river, in the present county of Gloucester, and not 
far distant from the spot rendered memorable by the crowning 
victory of the Revolution. It was here that the gallant Smith, 
a captive, and about to be executed, was rescued by the inter- 
position of Pocahontas, the young and beautiful daughter of 
Powhattan. 

This gentle maiden seems to have been a guardian angel to 
the colony. On several occasions she gave timely warning of 
impending danger, and by her subsequent marriage with one 
of the colonists, became the means of cementing a friendship 
between her people and the English. 

The story of this Indian princess — the perils she encountered 
in promoting the safety of the colony, her conversion to the 
Christian faith, her marriage to one of a strange lineage, whose 
people were destined to supplant and exterminate her own, her 
visit to England — the introduction of the simple child of the 
forest into the courtly circles of London under the patronage 
of Lady Delaware, her interview with Smith at Brentford, her 
death at Grravesend when about to re- embark for her native 
land, leaving an only son, from whom was to descend some of 
the best stock of a great commonwealth — constitute a romantic 
episode in the history of Virginia. The baptism of Pocahontas, 
in the little church at Jamestown, has been aptly chosen as a 
subject for one of the historical paintings in the Capitol at 
Washington. 



17 



American justice and humanity are unquestionably obnox- 
ious to reproach, in some of our transactions with the aborigi- 
nal inhabitants of this country. They have too often been 
made the victims of fraud and violence at the hands of those 
from whom they were entitled to receive protection. It is a 
somewhat melancholy reflection, that at no distant period 
scarce a specimen will remain on the continent, of a people 
once claiming and overspreading it. But they were, in the 
main, a barbaric people, subtle, cruel, and perfidious — imper- 
vious to the softening and humanizing influences of civilization 
and Christianity — prone to adopt the vices of the white man 
but to repudiate his virtues — and whom it would seem to have 
been impracticable to preserve, either by fusion or in separate 
nationality. Their removal is only in accordance with the 
great law of periodic succession and subordination, discovered 
in all the works of creative wisdom. It is but a mawkish sen- 
timentalism which would teach us to regret the gradual subsi- 
dence, or even final extinction, of such a type of our kind, in 
presence of a race stamped with every lineament and endowed 
with every faculty of supremacy. This glorious land was 
never designed to be the permanent abode of irreclaimable sav- 
ages. They have accomplished the end for which they were 
formed, as a link in the generations of men, and, like the ex- 
tinct species of the lower animals, disclosed by geological in- 
vestigation, have been succeeded by those of higher organiza- 
tion ; nor is there more reason to invoke our sympathy in their 
fate than with the Hittite and the Amorite, who fell before the 
conquering march of Joshua, after the miraculous passage of 
the Jordan. 

The settlement of Virginia, as has been seen, was under the 
auspices of a commercial company. The government, at the 
outset, was proprietary, the powers of which were lodged in a 

2 



18 



resident council and president, and in the company at London, 
the latter having appellate jurisdiction, and exercising the 
functions of legislation. There were hut few badges of free- 
dom in the charter of the company, and little of liberality in its 
early administration. The jn-imary object was the profit of 
traffic rather than founding a state. The success of Spanish 
and Portuguese adventure in the rich mines of the south had 
inflamed the English mind with ardent hopes of similar good 
fortune in this quarter. Their ignorance of the geography of 
the country, led them to expect that the South Sea, as it was 
then called, by which the Indies were to be reached in a 
shorter route, would be found in the rear of, and at no great 
distance from, their place of settlement. One of the hrst in- 
structions of the company was, that the adventurous should 
explore some river falling into the Atlantic from the west, un- 
der the belief that this South Sea would be found in close prox- 
imity to its source. It was under the guise of compliance with 
this instruction that Smith, anxious to begin his acquaintance 
with the new scenes by which he was surrounded, made his 
first visit to the Chickihonjiny . "When Newport made his second 
voyage to Virginia, it was under a mandate from the company 
at London, not to return without bringing with him intelli- 
gence of the discovery of the South Sea, a lump of gold, or one 
of the lost colony of Raleigh. Not being able to comply either 
with the first or the last of these requisitions, he attempted to 
perform the second by carrying with him, on his return, some 
of the " glistering tinctures" described by Smith. 

That such were the first impressions and purposes of the 
company, is shown by the fact that the colonists were not sent 
over in families (there was not a woman among them), and that 
the right of iiidividual property was not recognized — all things 
being in common, and provisions being supplied from the pub- 
lic store. 



19 



The character of 'the first immigrants was not such as suited 
the commencing a new state in the wilderness. They had 
been for the most jjart idhirs and hangers on about London, 
with few among them accustomed or skilled to labor. It was 
a matter of complaint with Smith, that the succeeding im- 
portations for a time had so small a proportion of working men 
and mechanics. He sought to impress the opinion from the 
first, that all expectatir)n of gold and hasty riches should be 
abandoned, and that the true sources of profit were to be found 
in the cultivation of the country and the accretions of well 
directed, methodical industry. The enterprise did languish, 
until the stimulus of personal interest was brought into opera- 
tion by grants of lands to individuals, and by the recognition 
and protection of private property, together with the home 
feeling created by the family relation. 

By a second charter to the Virginia Company, dated on the 
23d day of May, 1609, the boundaries of the colony were to 
be from Point Comfort, two hundred miles south, along the 
coast, and two hundred miles north from the sam3 point; 
giving four hundred miles of seacoast, and " all that space 
and circuit of land lying from the seacoast of the precinct 
aforesaid, up into the land throughout from sea to sea, west 
and northwest ;" and were also to include " all the islands 
lying within one hundred miles along the coasts of both seas 
of the precinct aforesaid. By a third charter, dated on the 3d 
day of ilarch, 1612, the ocean limits were so enlarged as to 
include all the islands within threa hunirel miles of the shore, 
and within the 33th and 4lst degrees of latitude. This enlarge- 
ment was mainly with the view to embrace the Bermudas, or 
Somers Islands, within the limits of Virgmia. 

Notwithstanding the character of the government pro- 
vided for the colony by these several charters, and the ab- 



20 



sence of any control in its administration by the C(jloni.sts 
themselves, yet a spirit of freedom and republicanism very 
early manifested itself, both in the company at London and 
the colony in Yirginia. 

The earliest written recognition of a Greneral Assembly is 
found in the " Ordinance and Constitution of the Treasurer, 
Council, and Company in Englainl, for a Council of State 
and General Assembly," dated July 2-lth, l(i21, and in the 
commission and instructions to Sir Francis Wyatt, Governor, 
of the same date. 

By this " Ordinance and Constitution," the government of 
the colony was vested in " a Governor, Council, and two Bur- 
gesses out of every town, hundred, or plantation, to be chosen 
by the inhabitants, to make up a General Assembly who are 
to decide all matters by the greatest number of voices ; but 
the governor is to have a negative voice ; to have power to 
make orders and acts necessary, wherein they are to imitate 
the policy of the forms of government, laws, customs, man- 
ner of trial, and other administration of justice in England ; 
no law to continue or be in force till ratified by a Quarter 
Court to be held in England, and returned under seal ; after 
the colony is well framed and settled, no order of Quarter 
Court, m England, shall bind until ratiticd by the General 
Assembly." 

In this compendium of powers are found all the essential ele- 
ments of good government — free suffrage, popular representa- 
tion, the right of the majority to ride, trial by jury, and the 
common law and customs of England. The last clause of this 
frame of government, declaring that no act of the Company in 
England should become obligatory without ratification of the 
General Assembly, is a remarkable evidence of the early spirit 
which animated the A^irginia Company, and is the first dawn 



21 



of that claim to the right of self-legislation, so persistently 
maintained by the colony throughout its subsequent history, 
the encroachments upon which, by the mother-country, ulti- 
mately brought about the war of Independence, and their final 
separation. 

Bat prior to the " Ordinance and Constitution" of 1621, 
there had been a General Assembly in Virginia. The meagre 
chronicles of that period do not inform us how it was brought 
about. Whether it was the consequence of instructions from 
the managers of the company in England, the spontaneous 
action of the Governor, or the solicitations of the people ; or 
whether it naturally came into life at the right time, just as 
we sometimes witness the appearance of new products of the 
earth, when the soil has become fitted for their germination, 
without any apparent or known paternity, cannot bo decided. 
But in June, 1619, Governor Yeardley gave orders for the 
election of Burgesses, and on Friday, the 80th day of July, 
1619, the first legislative assembly which ever was convened 
in America, met in the Church at Jamestown, more than a 
year before the May Flower sailed from England. 

The courts of the company, held in Loiidon, were theatres 
of free debate. ]\[any of the nobility, knights, and members 
of Parliament were stockholders of the company. The Earl 
of Southampton, the friend and patron of Shakespeare, "wrtsa 
leading member, and for a time its treasurer. James the First, 
always on the alert to suppress liberal' tendencies, had his 
jealousies aroused. He declared that the company " was a 
seminary for a seditious Parliament." 

In 1622 there was an Indian massacre, by which a largo 
proportion of the colonists were cut ofF. This was seized upon 
as one pretext for a charge of mismanagement and ill govern- 
ment against the company. The king declared his purpose 



22 



to revoke the charter. A cominissioii was organized to inquire, 
in Virginia, into the state of the colony. "While this commis- 
sion was engaged in the investigation, a writ quo warranto 
was ordered to be issued from the Court of King's Bench. 
While these proceedings were depending, the G-eneral Assembly 
of 1623-24, by several of its enactments, demonstrated true 
views of regulated liberty. Among other statutes then passed, 
was one which declared that the Governor shall not " lay any 
taxes or impositions upon the colony, their lands or com- 
modities, otherway than by the authority of the General 
Assembly, to be levied and ymployed as the said Assembly 
shall appoynt." 

The cardinal principle of free government, that revenues 
are only to be raised and disbursed by the representatives of 
the people, and that taxation and representation are Correla- 
tive, are here boldly announced. This statute was re-enacted 
in 1632. 

The quo warranto was tried at the Trinity Term, 1624, 
and the company was dissolved, by annulling its charter. It 
had expended up to this time, in the scheme of colonization, 
one hundred and fifty thousand pounds, and had shipped to 
Virginia about nine thousand persons. 

Upon the death of James the First, in April, 1625, his son 
and successor, Charles the First, took the government of Vir- 
ginia into his own hands, and it became, in effect, a royal 
colony. 

However arbitrary and illegal may have been the repeal of 
the charter and the dissolution of the company, it is by no 
means certain that these acts were detrimental to the growth 
and prosperity of the colony. The government, by two sets of 
agencies, the company with its courts in London, and the 
Governor, Council, and Burgesses, in Virginia, was complica- 



ted and cumbersome. The colony had become strong enough 
to take charge of its own future. Its relations with the In- 
dian tribes had become more pacific and satisfactory, and 
though still liable for many years afterwards to attacks from 
these savages, yet experience had been acquired of their modes 
of warfare, always more distinguished for stratagem than for 
open assault. The health of the colonists had much im- 
proved. 

The agricultural products of the country w^ere more than 
sufficient for its population, and we have accounts, about 
this time, of beef being sent to supply the wants of the 
pilgrims in New-England. Maize, or Indian corn, now 
entering so largely into animal subsistence, and for 
which the world is indebted to America, was the general 
food of the natives, prepared in a variety of fashions, and 
soon came to be esteemed as a delicious edible by the 
English. 

Tobacco had become the staple of the colony, and 
was not only the basis of its commerce but was also its cur- 
rency. Salaries and debts were paid in tobacco. Wives were 
purchased with the same commodity, the value of the first 
importation being fixed at one hundred and fifty pounds of 
that article per capita. But such was the activity of demand, 
and the competition of purchasers, that the price was rapidly 
augmented. It was not long after this period, that the Gene- 
ral Assembly thought it not inappropriate to give expression 
to their gratitude by a public statute that " God Almighty, 
among his many other blessings, hath vouchsafed increase of 
children to this colony, who arc now multiplied to a consider- 
able extent." 

After the dissolution of the company the colony began 
gradually to look to the king, as merely its executive head, 



24 



while for all measures necessary to its happiness and prosperity 
the colonists were to rely upon themselves, and their own 
legislation. This was a sentiment which runs through the 
entire colonial history of Virginia, becoming deeper and more 
fixed in its channel, up to the period of the revolution. They 
professed loyalty, and they were loyal ; but it was loyalty to 
the king of Great Britain as head of the nation, of which 
Virginia was an offshoot, planted in a distant land, neither 
having or claiming representation in the English parliament, 
but relying on its own legislative assembly. 

The situation of the colonists was itself favorable to the 
development of freedom of opinion and independent principles. 
They were cut off from the mother country by the width of 
the Atlantic. They were thrown into the solitude of great 
forests, and separated from each other on distant plantations. 
They were thus forced to commune with nature, and cultivate 
healthy processes of thought. They became self-reliant, and 
that is a quality of the individual or the family very nearly 
allied to, and apt to beget, independence in the community or 
nation. They had no towns, and now, after the lapse of two 
centuries and a half, there is not one in the State of fifty thou- 
sand population. Love of the country is a prevailing senti- 
ment among her people to this day. It has been said that the 
New-Englander makes money that he may move to the city, 
while the Virginian devotes himself to its acquisition, mainly 
that he may purchase a farm in the country. 

The founders of Virginia were not driven to America by re- 
ligious persecution and intolerance as were the Puritan fathers 
of New-England. On the contrary, they were of the Angli- 
can church, as established by law in the mother country. A 
large proportion of the early legislation of the colony had for 
its object the promotion of the worship and doctrines of the 



25 



English church. Their statutes, however, evince a severity in 
the letter not found in the history of their practice. There 
were some harsh enactments against Quakers, and perhaps 
other dissenters, but to the credit of the State, we have no 
account of any general persecution for religious opinion. The 
invitation extended by the Jamestown settlement to the Ply- 
mouth colony, that the latter should remove to the Delaware 
within the limits of Virginia, and thus escape the rigors of 
their more northern latitude, would not seem to imply the 
presence of any very stringent notions of orthodoxy. 

The early colonists were unquestionably loyal, both to the 
church and to the king. Such predilections of political and 
religious faith had served to fix upon one of the great divisions 
of English society the designation of " cavaliers," a soubri- 
quet of party by which they were distinguished from those 
who were zealous for change and reform, both in Church and 
State, and who, in derision, were called " round-heads," from 
the peculiar fashion in which they wore the hair. Virginia 
adhered to Charles the First, through all the vicissitudes of his 
fortune. Tidings of the defeat at Marston-Moor, and the over- 
throw at Naseby, brought as keen anguish to the Virginians 
as to the king's subjects at home ; while those events may have 
served to stimulate further immigration to the colony, and 
thus to augment the number of his friends in that distant 
retreat. 

The king was beheaded in January, 1649. At the first 
general assembly held after that occurrence, in October, 1649, 
by an act which recites in its preamble that there were those 
who " in design of innovation," were disposed to "cast blem- 
ishes of dishonor upon the late most excellent and now un- 
doubtedly sainted king," it was declared that whoever, 
" whether stranger or inhabitant of Ihis colony, shall maintain 



26 



or defend the late traitorous proceedings against the aforesaid 
king of most happy memory," should be adjudged an accessory, 
after the fact, to the death of the king. It was further declar- 
ed, that whosoever should " go about by irreverent or scanda- 
lous words or language, to blast the memory and honor of the 
late most pious King (deserving ever altars and monuments in 
the hearts of all good men), shall, upon conviction, suffer such 
censure and punishment as may be thought fit by the Gover- 
nor and Council." It was also provided by the same act, 
that any person who should, by words or speeches, " insinuate 
a doubt, scruple, or question," of the inherent right of Charles 
the Second to the colony of Virginia, and all other his Majesty's 
dominions," such words and speeches shall be adjudged high 
treason. 

The people of Virginia were attached to Charles the First, 
not so much from a love of the kingly office, as for the reason 
that they had .prospered under his reign. He had seldom inter- 
vened in their affairs, but had, in the main, left them to their 
own management. In 1642 they had solemnly protested, in 
a memorial to the king, against a proposition set on foot by 
some of the members of the former company, to revive the cor- 
poration. They set out, in their memorial, numerous bless- 
ings and advantages enjoyed by them since the repeal of the 
charter, and their apprehensions of mischief in returning 
to it. 

Nor were the people of Virginia slaves to the monarch, nor 
blindly obedient to his will. The first General Assembly that 
was held after the accession of Charles the First to the throne, 
and which had been called at his own instance, to deliberate 
upon a proposition submitted by him, to become the purchaser 
of all the tobacco grown in the colony, rejected the terms offer- 
ed by the royal speculator and monopolist. They did not hes- 



27 

itate to remonstrate, in suitable terms of indignation, against 
the dismemberment of their territory by the grant of Maryland 
to Lord Baltimore, and after settlements had been made under 
the title acquired from the king, a spirited attempt to vindi- 
cate the rights of Virginia, was exhibited in an encounter 
between armed parties of the two colonies, on the waters of 
the Chesapeake. 

A very significant event, the earliest foreshadowing of re- 
sistance to arbitrary power, occurred in April, 1635, when Sir 
John Harvey, a governor appointed by Charles the First, hav- 
ing rendered himself odious by acts of oppression, and having 
excited the indignation of the Virginians by his supposed sym- 
pathy with the Marylanders, was summarily removed from his 
office by an order of the House of Burgesses. 

The brief record of this exercise of popular authority is in 
the following words : 

" On the 2Sth April, 1635, Sir John Harvey thrust out of 
his government, and Capt. John "West acts as governor till the 
king's pleasure known." 

The legislative history of Virginia, so faithfully collected 
and preserved by Hening, in his " Statutes at large," clearly 
show, that from the death of Charles the First, in 1649, to the 
restoration of Charles the Second, in 1C60, the colony was 
governed almost exclusively by the House of Burgesses. The 
statutes themselves are the best correctives of the errors into 
which Beverly, Robertson, Chalmers, and other early historians, 
have fallen, for want of them. There was not a Governor ap- 
pointed during the interregnum, except by the General Assem- 
bly, which took into its own hands the whole power of appoint- 
ment. 

Virginia at first stood out against the Commonwealth. An 
ordinance was adopted by Parliament for the reduction of re- 



28 



bellious colonies, and prohibiting ships from trading with 
"Barbadoes, Antigua, Bermudas, and Virginia." Maryland 
had acknowledged the Protector, and Massachusetts, by an 
act of her own, prohibited all intercourse with Virginia, until 
she should submit to the supremacy of the Commonwealth. 
This restriction, proving injurious to her own commerce, was 
abandoned previous to the submission of Virginia. 

Cromwell, adopting a plan which may have served as a 
precedent for the Paraguay expedition, sent Commissioners to 
Virginia to treat with the colony, accompanied by a strong 
armed force, to strengthen, if need be, the logic of the negoti- 
ations. The government at Jamestown, finding that favorable 
terms could be obtained, and having but little hope from a 
monarch in exile, whose chances of restoration seemed to have 
become desperate, made a formal agreement with the Parlia- 
mentary Commissioners, which bears date on the 12th day of 
March, 1651. 

This is a most remarkable document, and exhibits the spirit 
and character of our ancestors, as old paintings preserve the 
features of the countenance. While they consent " to remain in 
due obedience and subjection to the Commonwealth of England, 
according to the laws there established," it is expressly stipula- 
ted " that this submission and subscription be acknowledged a 
voluntary act, not forced or constrained by a conquest upon the 
country, and that they shall have and enjoy such freedomes and 
privileges as belong to the free-born people of England." The 
treaty further provides " That the G-rand Assembly, as former- 
ly, shall convene and transact the affairs of Virginia ;" that 
there should "be a total remission of all pains, fines, and 
forfeitures, on account of words or writing against the Parlia- 
ment of England ;" that " Virginia shall have and enjoy the 
ancient bounds and limits granted by the charters of the for- 



29 



mer kings ;" that " the people of Virginia have free trade as 
the people of England do enjoy ;" that Virginia should " not 
be charged with the expenses of the fleet sent to suhjugate 
her ;" and that she should "be free from all taxes, customs, 
and impositions whatever, and none to be imposed on them 
without the consent of the Grand Assembly, and that neither 
forts nor castles bo erected or garrisons maintained, without 
their consent." Any of the inhabitants who might refusa to 
subscribe this engagement, were allowed one year to remove 
themselves and their estates out of the colony. The use 
of the book of common prayer was permitted for a year, " pro- 
vided that those things which related to kingship be not used 
publickly." The Governor and Council were not required to 
take any oath or engagement to the Commonwealth for one 
year, nor be " censured for praying for or speaking well of the 
king for one whole year in their private houses or neighboring 
conferences;" and finally, as if punctilious in honor and loy- 
alty to the last, the Virginians required and obtained a stipu- 
lation in the agreement, that "there be one sent home at the 
present Governor's choice, to give an account to his Majesty 
of the surrender of his country, the present Governor bearing 
his charge, that is, Sir William Berkley." 

When we consider the condition of things existing at the 
period of this transaction, the terrible energies of the English 
Commonwealth, as wielded by the iron will of its acknowledged 
head, the remote position of this, the only part of the British do- 
minion, adhering to the exiled king, the number and weakness 
of its inhabitants, in the presence of ships-of-war, lying off 
the village capital of Jamestown, we cannot but admire the 
patriotic firmness of the men, who, under such circumstances, 
were able to obtain terms of capitulation so favorable to the 
principles of free government. The language of the treaty is 



;o 



in the tone of the old Barons of RunymcJe, rather than the 
submissive phraseology of a surrender. 

Virginia enjoyed great freedom during the whole period 
of the protectorate of Cromwell. The representatives of the 
people claimed and exercised all the powers cf government, 
and jealously warded off every encroachment upon their rights. 
Richard Bennett, the first Governor elected by the Burgesses, 
ventured to address a cautious message to the Assembly, in 
which protesting that he had no purpose to entrench upon their 
rights, in the free choice of a speaker, nor to underrate the 
gentleman proposed for that office, '' but only by way of ad- 
vice," expressed his opinion, in which he alleged the Council 
concurred, that it would not be proper to elect that individual, 
Col. "Walter Chiles, at this time, inasmuch as there was a ques- 
tion to be agitated at the present session, concerning a ship 
lately arrived, in which he was interested, for which, and other 
reasons, the Governor conceived it better that they should make 
choice of some other person. To signify their sense of the 
Governor's interference, the Burgesses elected the obnoxious 
candidate, and then, as appears by an entry, reciting that the 
Speaker having represented to the house " his extraordinarie 
occasions in regard of the despatch of some shipping, now in 
the country, in which he is much interested and concerned," 
the house permits him to resign. 

At a subsequent session, a vehement controversy sprung up, 
as to the constitutional power of the Governor to dissolve the 
Assembly. A dissolution had been ordered by the Governor 
and Council, but the House refused compliance, and adopted a 
resolution, declaring that any member who should leave in 
consequence of the Governor's action, should be censured as a 
person betraying the trust reposed in him by his country." 
They also resolved, " that they had in themselves the full pow- 



oi 



er of the election and appointment of all offices in this 
country, until such time as they should have orders to the con- 
trary from the supreme power in England ;" and further, that 
they were "not dissolvable by any power yet extant in Vir- 
ginia, but their own." 

It had been stipulated in the articles of surrender, that the 
colony should enjoy free trade with all the world. It is mani- 
fest, from various statutes, passed during the continuance of 
the protectorate, that the restrictions of the navigation acts of 
the English Parliament were not enforced in Virginia, and 
that the representatives of the people, as they proudly called 
themselves, regulated their own commerce, as they did the 
election of their public officers. 

If Virginia established the first representative Assembly in 
this country, hers was also the first government in the world 
based on universal sufi'rage. Originally the right of suf- 
frage was exercised by all freemen. The first abridgment of 
this right was by an act passed in March, 1655, restricting suf- 
frage to " housekeepers, whether freeholders, leaseholders, or 
otherwise tenants." At the next session, however, suffrage 
was restored to "all freemen," the Assembly declaring that 
" they conceived it something hard and unagreeable to reason, 
that any person should pay equal taxes, and yet have no vote 
in elections " In 1670, the right was for the first time con- 
fined to freeholders. The instructions of Charles the Second 
to Governor Berkley, in 1676 also enforced the freehold quali- 
fication, " as being more agreeable to the customs of Eng- 
land." 

The parliamentary code of the Grand Assembly was not so 
voluminous as that of our present House of Representatives, 
but it contained some rules, which, if well enforced, might be 
beneficial now. At the first adoption of rules, in March, 1659 



32 



there wore but five in number. The first was, that " no Bur- 
gess shall absent himself from attendance on the house with- 
out leave first obtained (unless prevented by sickness), when 
any matter shall be debated of, but every member shall keep 
good order, and give due attention to the reading or debating 
of whatsoever shall be proposed, and not entertain any private 
discourse while the public afi'airs are treated of." 

The second provided, that for every absence upon the call of 
the Clerk, the member should forfeit twenty pounds of tobac- 
co, " to be disposed of by the major part of the house, every 
Saturday afternoon, lawful impediments excepted." 

The third rule was, " that the first time any member of this 
house shall be, by the major part of the house, adjudged to be 
disguised with overmuch drink, he shall forfeit one hundred 
pounds of tobacco, and for the second time he shall be so dis- 
guised he shall forfeit three hundred pounds of tobacco, and for 
the third offence one thousand pounds of tobacco." 

The fourth required, that the member addressing the house, 
shall " be uncovered during the time he speaketh, wherein no 
interruption shall be made until he hath finished his discourse." 

The fifth and last was, " that no irreverent or indigne form 
of speech be uttered in the house against another member, 
upon the penalty of five hundred pounds of tobacco, the house 
to be judge therein, and the several fines to be disposed by the 
house, as abovesaid." 

Upon the death of Oliver Cromwell, Virginia acknowledged 
his son Richard, whom he had appointed his successor. 

The early historians are at fault in representing that Charles 
the Second was proclaimed by the authorities in Virginia, two 
years previous to his restoration to the throne in England, and 
that Sir William Berkley was called from his retirement and 
made Governor by acclamation. The statutes themselves, which 



are the best evidence of what actually transpired, show that 
after Richard Cromwell resigned the protectorship, on the 22d 
of April, 1659, the House of Burgesses, hy an act which re- 
cites in its preamble that there was " no resident, absolute and 
generally confessed power in England," declare " that the su- 
preme power of the government of this country shall be resi- 
dent in the Assembly, and that all writs issued in the name of 
the Grrand Assembly of Virginia, until such a command and 
commission come out from England, as shall be by the Assem- 
bly adjudged lawful." At the same time, by another act, they 
appointed Berkley, Governor, requiring him to administer the 
office according to " the ancient laws of England, and the es- 
tablished laws of this country," and to call the Assembly to- 
gether at least once in two years. They permitted him to 
choose a Secretary and Council, to be approved by the Assem- 
bly, and provide that he shall not dissolve the Assembly with- 
out their consent. 

Berkley accepted the appointment upon the terms in which 
it was conferred. In an address to the Assembly, he stated 
that he had quietly submitted to the state of things as it had 
existed, and would continue to acquiesce until a change came. 
He evidently looked and hoped for a restoration of the mon- 
archy. He was a thorough royalist. Undoubtedly that senti- 
ment largely predominated in the colony, though it had en- 
joyed more freedom under the provisional government than at 
any former period, and there had been a considerable increase 
in the prevalence of republican principles. Charles the Sec- 
ond was restored on the 29th May, 16G0. From the time of 
Richard Cromwell's resignation, the utmost doubt prevailed 
in England, as to the shape which the government might as- 
sume. The silence of General Monelc held public opinion in 
suspense. The acts and records exhibit no change in mode or 

3 



34 



style, except that, after the resignation of Richard, all writs 
were to issue in the name of the Assembly, whereas, from the 
time of the surrender to the commonwealth, they had been issued 
in the name of his " Highness, the Protector." There is no 
Vecognition of the king whatsoever, or ofthe kingly government, 
in any statute or proceeding, until the October session, 1660, 
some five months after the restoration in the preceding May. 

Nor is there any authentic evidence that Charles was visit- 
ed in his retreat at Breda by deputies from Virginia, to confer 
vrith him as to his power to protect them, in the event Ihey 
should return to their allegiance ; or of the tradition, that on 
the day of his coronation ho appeared in a full dress of Vir- 
ginia silk, in compliment to her loyalty. It is highly probable 
that a correspondence was maintained by Sir William Berkley, 
perhaps by other royalists in the colony, with the claimant to 
tlie throne. lie had abundant proof of their zeal in his behalf; 
and in gratitude for the loyalty of the colonists, Charles, after 
the restoration, caused the arms of Virginia to be added to 
those of England, France, Scotland, and Ireland, with the 
motto "£■;/ dat Virginia quint am. ^^ After the union of Scotland 
]and England took place, the Virginia arms were quartered 
with that of England, France, and Ireland, the motto being 
changed, " En dat Virginia quartern.''^ 

This is the origin of the title "Ancient Dominion," or, as 
since more frequently used, " The Old Dominion." Virginia 
was tliought worthy to partalvc the honor of separate designa- 
tion, as one of the several kingdoms and principalities which 
made up the empire. 

The Ancient Ditminion had little cause to congratulate her- 
self upon the favor of this licentious and profligate prince. 
Oppressive monopolies of colonial commerce, and arbitrary 
grants of her territory to Court favorites, in violation of the 



36 



rights of the inhabitants, and utterly inconsistent with former 
charters, distinguished his reign, so far as it is connected with 
the history of Virginia, while his administration of the gov- 
ernment at home was such as to concentrate well nigh all its 
power in the crown, and to substitute absolutism for a consti- 
tutional monarchy. 

: .In 1669 the lands lying between the Rappahannock and the 
Potomac, known as the Northern Neck, were granted to Lord 
Culpepper, Baron of Thorsway, and others. Of this fair re- 
gion, Thomas Lord Fairfax, Baron of Cameron, afterward be- 
came the proprietor by inheritance ; and by virtue of one of 
the calls in the grant, for the " first heads or springs of the 
great river, commonly called the Palawomack^'' its boundaries 
were extended greatly beyond the probable expectations of 
the parties, and embraced what is now the most productive 
part of the State, the lower or northern border of the great 
valley lying between the Blue Ridge and the Alleghanies. It 
was here, in the present county of Frederick, near Winches- 
ter, that Lord Fairfax afterward established his wood- 
land capital, called " Greenway Court," and it was in sur- 
veying and exploring these lands, that Washington had his 
earliest training for the mighty career of his after life. 

But, by a still more lavish and improvident patent,^ dated 
on the 25th day of February, 1673, the king granted to the 
Earl of Arlington (who was father-in-law to the king's son 
by Lady Castlemaine), and to Lord Culpepper, jointly, the 
whole territory of Virginia, for a period of thirty-one years. 
Alarmed by an exercise of power so unwarranted and so 
fraught with danger to the happiness and tranquillity of the 
colony, the General Assembly, in 1674, determined to address 
a petition to the king for the revocation of this grant, and to 
send agents to negotiate in England for a confirmation of their 



36 



former rights and privileges. Tliis duty was most ably and 
faithfully performed by the Virginian Commissioners, and the 
arguments and remonstrances prepared and presented by them 
will compare favorably with the State papers, which, one hun- 
dred years afterward, challenged the admiration of Burke and 
Chatham. They especially direct themselves to the power of 
taxation, insisting on an unqualified recognition of an exclu- 
sive right in the G-encral Assembly to impose and appropriate 
the public moneys, and a repudiation of such right in any other 
persons or functionaries. 

They announced in limine that this point they were express- 
ly charged to insist upon, and that until it was conceded, they 
did not feel authorized to proceed with any other question. 

The propositions of the agents for Virginia for a new charter, 
which should embody and secure the great principles necessary 
to the freedom and happiness of the colony, including self-le- 
gislation and self-taxation, with the repeal of the patent to Ar- 
lington and Culpepper, and a provision that henceforward 
lands were not to be granted by the king, but by the G-ov- 
ernor and Council, were referred to the Governor and Solicitor- 
general. They made a report to the Committee on Foreign 
Plantations, who presented the same report to the king in coun- 
cil. It was favorable to the views of the Virginia agents on 
all the points, and was ordered by the king to be prepared in 
the form of a charter under the great seal. Delays occurred 
in the office having charge of this branch of administration, and 
before the transaction was completed, news arrived of a popu- 
lar outbreak in Virginia, wdiich was made the excuse for re- 
fusing to proceed further. 

The commercial restrictions imposed by the English naviga- 
tion act, and which were enforced on Virginia commerce after 
the restoration, had produced disastrous results on the pecu- 



Ol 



niary and industrial interests of the colony. Tobacco, tlie chief 
export, brought but little money to the country. The taxes, 
which had never been levied upon property but upon polls, or 
per capita, were high, and materially augmented by the ex- 
penses of the agency at London, the necessity of which had 
been brought about by the extravagant and illegal territorial 
grants by the crown. 

The king had evinced no other care for the colon}'', than as 
a source from which revenues were to be drawn by grinding 
exactions. Poverty and distress began to make themselves felt. 
A strong and general sentiment of discontent had spread 
through the colony. It pervaded more, or less strongly, all 
classes of the people. Cavaliers were wounded by the convic- 
tion that their fidelity had been repaid by royal injustice and 
ingratitude. A sense of oppression filled the minds of the 
working classes with resentment and desire of relief. An oc- 
casion was only needed for an explosion, and this was soon 
famished. 

In the summer of 1675, troubles with the Indians occurred, 
both upon the Potomac and the James river. Nathaniel Bacon, 
Jr., an educated Englishman, born during the civil wars, and 
strongly partaking of Republican predilections, had come to 
the country in 1672, and settled on the James river. He was 
a man of great address, of an imposing and attractive person, 
and possessed a wonderful and moving elocution. His over- 
seer and some of his servants were slaughtered by the Indians 
at his plantation, near the falls of the James river, then the 
frontier of Virginia. He rallied a considerable force, of which 
he was unanimously elected the leader, and a commission as 
General was applied for. This, Sir William Berkley, then Gov- 
enor, refused or evaded. He was suspected, at the time, of 
complicity with the savages, with whom, as it was alleged, he 



38. 

had carried on a lucrative traffic in furs for his own private 
emolument. Bacon and his followers pursued the hostile In- 
dians without a commission. Berkley and his Council pro- 
claimed him a rebel, and raising a military force, the G-overnor 
went in pursuit of Bacon as far as the falls, without finding the 
insurgents, who had advanced into the country beyond. Re- 
turning to Jamestown, he ascertained that the planters of the 
lower counties had also raised the standard of revolt. Upon 
the return of Bacon from his Indian campaign, he was elected, 
by acclamation, a Burgess from the county of Henrico. The 
Assembly met in June, 1676. By order of the Governor, Ba- 
con was arrested, but upon his acknowledgment that he had 
erred in levying war upon the Indians, without orders, and in 
acting without a commission, Berkley professed to forgive his 
offence, and promised both to restore him to his seat in the 
Council, of which he had been a member, and to grant him a 
commission as General. In the meantime, many of Bacon's 
friends and followers in the frontier portions of the colony, hear- 
ing of his arrest, had made their way to Jamestown. Bacon 
himself, having no confidence in Berkley's sincerity, and suspect- 
ing an evil design, suddenly left the Little capital, but within 
a few days reappeared there at the head of about four hundred 
armed men. They demanded a commission for their leader, 
and authority to punish the Indians. The Assembly partici- 
pated largely in the sentiment of dissatisfaction which had 
brought about this crisis. They provided by law for an In- 
dian war, and created Bacon commander-in-chief These acts 
were ratified by the Governor and Council, influenced proba- 
bly by the presence of the military force which continued at 
Jamestown. 

Various acts, passed at the present session under the influ- 
ence of Bacon, show that the spirit of liberty was at work 



39 

among tlie people and their representatives. Many abuses in 
the administration were reformed. The right of sufTrage, which, 
under theinstruction of the king, had been restricted to free- 
holders, was now restored to all freemen. Vestries were to be 
elected by the freemen once in three years. Keprcsentatives 
were to be elected in every county to act with the justices in 
laying county levies, and persons not natives were declared 
ineligible to office until they had resided three years in the 
colony. 

It is a remarkable fact that this Assembly, meeting in June, 
as did the Convention of 1776, which instructed its repre- 
sentatives in the Continental Congress to move the indepen- 
dence of the united colonies, completed its liberal legislation on 
the 4th day of July, 1676, the day rendered immortal in the 
next century. 

Bacon, now recognized as General-in-chief, set out at the 
head of a thousand men against the Pamunkey Indians. 
Scarcely had he departed from Jamestown, before Berkley, the 
doughty old cavalier, who seems from the first to have been 
impressed with the belief that these popular movements were 
dangerous, and under the guise of an Indian war, some change 
in the government was meditated, again denounced Bacon, and 
declared the colony in rebellion. When Bacon received intel- 
ligence of the Governor's acts, and his efforts to get up a force 
in Gloucester to pursue him, he marched back to Jamestown. 
Berkley was without army or assistance, and on the 29th of 
July, with a small party, he made his retreat to vVccomack, on 
the eastern side of the bay. Bacon and some of his Council 
acting with him, then summoned a convention to confer on the 
state of the colony. The convention met in August, at Mid- 
dle Plantation, afterwards Williamsburg. "We. have no records 
of the debates of this, the first convention of Virginia. Accord- 



40 



ing to ilic old traditions, tlic argument ran liigli, and Bacon 
towered above them all. The main propositions for considera- 
tion were, that they should oppose Berkley, adhere to Bacon, 
and that in the event forces should be sent from England to 
reduce them, they would resist and suppress such force, until 
proper terms should be granted them, and they should be al- 
lowed a hearing before the king and Parliament. This last 
proposition met a decided approval. There were some who 
were not quite prepared to encounter the perils of resistance to 
the arms of His Majesty sent out from England, though will- 
ing to brave the anger and blows of his representative in the 
person of Berkley. "While the question w^as as yet undecided, 
news reached the convention that the Governor had carried off 
with him the ammunition from Fort York, the principal fort in 
the colony, and that parties of Indians were threatening that 
vicinity. The indignation produced by this announcement 
ended the controversy, and they took an oath to resist British 
troops to the last extremity if sent against them. 

An attempt was made to capture the Governor in Accomack, 
but the enterprise was defeated by the treachery of a captain 
of one of the rebels sent to accomplish it, and Berkley gaining 
possession of the ships, returned to Jamestown in the absence 
of Bacon on an Indian expedition, and took possession of the 
place. Having fortified himself, and being surrounded by a 
goodly number of those called by Bacon's party "rogues and 
royalists," whose zeal he inflamed by promises of the forfeited 
estates of the rebels, he felt himself secure. But Bacon, with 
a much smaller force, pressed the siege so warmly, that Berkley 
and his followers were compelled to evacuate the entrenchments 
by night, and made their escape. 

Bacon himself, while planning other schemes of safety for 
the colony, was a short time afterward suddenly cat off by 



41 



disease, probably contracted from exposure during his opera- 
tions, and his enterprises fell with him. 

Thus ended a premature attempt at freedom, which attests 
the spirit of our ancestors, and bears many of the features 
which mark the proceedings, at a later day, of a more succes- 
ful assertion of the great doctrines of popular right. 

A gloomy period in the annals of Virginia followed these 
events. Sir William Berkley being restored to power, mani- 
fested his zeal in behalf of prerogative, by such numerous and 
continued acts of cruelty, as to excite the disapprobation even 
of his royal master, Charles the Second, who said, " the old 
fool has taken away more lives in that naked country, than I 
for the murder of my father." 

Soon after Berkley left Virginia, Culpepper was proclaimed 
Governor for life. With Arlington he was joint proprietor of 
the colony for thirty-one years, and sole proprietor of the North- 
ern Neck. The condition of the Ancient Dominion was now 
deplorable. 

In 1683 the patent to Culpepper, as Governor for life, was 
vacated, and in the following year, Arlington having conveyed 
his interest in the colony to his colleague, that patent was also 
annulled or surrendered, and Virginia became again a royal 
province. 

Lord Howard, of Effingham, succeeded Culpepper. Free- 
dom of government was at the lowest point of depression. All 
officers were appointed by the crown. But the spirit of per- 
sonal independence among the people never quaUed. The 
House of Burgesses, in their conflicts with the Governor and 
Council, continued to exhibit the indomitable firmness of faith- 
ful representatives. The intrepid Beverly, Clerk to the House, 
peremptorily refused to deliver its records to the Governor and 
Council, when demanded of him, for the purpose of expunging 



42 



a resolution which had been adopted soon after Bacon's rehel- 
lion. 

James the Second conferred no benefits on Virginia, unless 
it may have been by additions to her population, in convicts 
and exiles sent thither under the judicial labors of the " bloody 
Jeffries," on account of participation in the Monmouth rebel- 
lion. 

The civil revolution, which placed the Prince of Orange on 
the English throne, vindicated, to a certain extent, the great 
principles of constitutional freedom, and A^irginia, after a sea- 
son, partook of the benefits secured to the mother country. 

Religious liberty always precedes and accompanies political 
freedom. It is freedom of the mind which leads to freedom in 
action. Virginia, though adhering to the established church, had 
never bowed down blindly to the hierarchy. There had never 
been a bishop in the colony. The right of presentation by the 
Governors, as representing the king, had been denied, and the 
authority to induct ministers, upon an election by the vestries, 
these bodies themselves being elected by the people, had been 
admitted and acted on since 1642. 

It has been characteristic of Virginia in all her history, to 
be jealous of the encroachments of power, whether in church 
or state. The Reverend James Blair, a native of Scotland, 
came to the country in 1685, and was appointed Commissary 
for the colony in 1689. The functions of a Commissary were 
not very well defined ; but by virtue of his office, he was a sort 
of shadowy representative of the bishop of London, and had 
some general superintendence over the churches. Though pos- 
sessed of little power, he was, at first, watched and cavilled at, 
as if he had held the power of the pope. He is entitled to the 
great merit of having been chiefly instrumental in founding 
William and Mary College, only second in age to Ilarvard Uni- 



43 

versity, and the beneficent mother of a long array of honored 
sons, who have ilhistrated the history of Virginia in every de- 
partment of the public service, both state and national. He 
died in 1743, having been a minister in Virginia fifty-eight 
years, and President of the College fifty years. 

It is a curious fact, appearing in one of his own letters, that 
Dean Swift at one time entertained the idea of becoming bish- 
op of Virginia. He suggests a promotion in that lino to his 
friend and correspondent, asking the aid of his patronage to 
obtain the office, and adding that if unsuccessful, he might be 
compelled to accompany his friend Addison, then recently ap- 
pointed Secretary to Ireland. AVhether this is to be regarded 
as the expression of a real desire by the Dean to transfer his 
genius and eccentricities to the wilds of America, or to be 
placed to the account of that humor and sarcasm of which he 
was such an inimitable master, may be questionable. 

After the "Act of Toleration," passed early in the reign of 
William and Mary, dissenting ministers began to make tlicir 
appearance more frequently in Virginia. The people awaken- 
ing to the right of freedom of conscience in all that pertains to 
the relation between man and his Maker, claimed to offer their 
worship in the modes supposed by them to be most acceptable 
to its object. 

Virginia became also the asylum of Protestants escaping 
from the tyranny of Louis the Fourteenth. A considerable 
number of Huguenots, expelled from France by the revocation 
of the Edict of Nantz, came to Virginia in 1690, and settled on 
the James river, above the falls. Another party came over in 
1699. These people were a mcst valuable acquisition. The 
sincerity of their faith, tested by persecution, and their love of 
freedom, engendered by oppression and cruelty, were ample 
pledges of good citizenship, and their descendants have eve^ 
been distinguished for high and noble qualities. 



44 



The population of Virginia long lingered on the shores of her 
capacious bay, and along the tidal sections of her majestic 
rivers. The scats of her ancient hospitality were found on the 
Chesapeake, the James, the York, the Rappahannock, and the 
Potomac. It is not wonderful that it should have been so, for 
it would be difficult to conceive a more inviting region of hu- 
man abode. With a temperature equally free from the asperi- 
ties of a Northern climate, and the burning heat of a more 
Southern sun, a soil of virgin richness, teeming with vegeta- 
ble life, and only needing to be subdued and tamed by cultiva- 
tion, to return " seed to the sower and bread to the eater," its 
forests and its waters instinct with life ; here was the home of 
the epicure, and the paradise of the indolent. In no country 
could the means of human sustenance be obtained more abund- 
antly or at less cost. It is so to this day, for though the soil 
had become worn and exhausted by improvident tillage, agri- 
cultural science and well directed industry have restored it. 
The railway and the steamboat have revolutionized this region 
of the State, and tide-water Virginia, after a lapse of two cen- 
turies and a half, still responds to the description of the gallant 
Smith, who beheld its pristine beauty, that " Heaven and 
Earth never agreed to better frame a place for man's habitation." 

The wave of population rolled slowly to the West. Rich- 
mond, now the metropolis of the State, crowning the beautiful 
heights at the falls of James river (in sight of the old imperial 
wigwam of Powhattan), was laid out by Col. Byrd in 1737. 
The fertile and highly cultivated district lying between the 
falls of the river and the eastern declivities of the Blue Ridge, 
known as the " Piedmont District," and including what Mr. 
Randolph designated as "that belt of mulattoe land, so fruit- 
ful in chinquepins and presidents," was gradually occupied by 
emigration from the low lands. 



45 

It was not until 171C, that the passage of the Blue Ridge, 
hitherto considered an impassable barrier, was successfully ac- 
complished. This feat was performed by Governor Spotswood, 
who, setting out from Williamsburg with a large retinue, and 
delaying a few days at G-ermana, the Governor's country es- 
tate and iron works, for the purpose of shoeing the horses, oc- 
cupied some six weeks in the expedition. From the summit 
of the mountain, they beheld for the first time that magnifi- 
cent valley stretching from the Blue Ridge to the Alleghany, 
since not more famous for the productiveness of its soil, than 
for the intelligence, enterprise, and patriotism of its inhabitants. 

Some of the party, unused to the fatigues and privations of 
so adventurous a march, desired to return from the mountain 
top, but the more enthusiastic Spotswood was not content un- 
til he had descended its western slopes and bathed in the spark 
ling waters of the Shenandoah. 

In commemoration of this expedition, the Governor after- 
ward instituted the Order of " Knights of the Golden Horse- 
shoe." In the lower country, owing to the absence of stone, it 
had not been usual to put shoes on the horses, but this expedi- 
tion in the rocky defiles of the mountains rendered them ne- 
cessary, and an extra number had been carried along. 

Hence the designation of the Order. Its badge was a min- 
iature horseshoe made of gold, and stamped with the motto, 
" Sic juvat transcendcre monies.'''' 

The lower end of the valley of Virginia was first settled by 
German families from Pennsylvania, under a patent to Joist 
Hite and others. These settlements began in 1732. They 
gradually extended along the Potomac and its tributaries, and 
beyond the mountains, to the waters of the Monongahela. 

John Lewis, the father of General Andrew Lewis, who sub- 
sequently became so distinguished in the military service of 



46 



the colony, and of Col. Charles Lewis, who fell in the memo- 
rahle battle at the mouth of the Great Kanawha, in 1774, was 
the pioneer of Augusta and the founder of Stauntin, the oldest 
town in the valley. Having slain an Irish lord in the county 
of Dublin for his arbitrary oppression, and fleeing his country 
with his wife Margaret, daughter to the Laird of Locklynn in 
Scotland, he settled in his transmontane home, in the year 
1734. 

The Scotch- L'ish, a peculiar people, descended from a Scotch 
colony, planted in the depopulated county of Ulster, Ireland, 
distinguished for sternness of religious opinion, as also, for in- 
domitable courage and patriotism, began about this time to take 
possession of the middle parts of the valley. 

It was many years afterward before the fertile lands beyond 
the Alleghany began to be dotted with the log cabins of an 
advancing frontier. No pioneer had ventured into those soli- 
tudes, whose sleeping echoes were only waked by the scream 
of the eagle or the whoop of the painted warrior. Neither 
Gist or Boone had yet seen Kentucky. The Ohio then flowed 
in solitary grandeur for more than a thousand miles through 
an unbroken wilderness, its gentle surface only disturbed by 
the wing of the wildfowl, or the dip of the hunter's oar. It 
now washes shores studded on either side with the habitations 
of civilized and Christianized men, reflecting in its mirror waves 
the jocund harvests and golden fruits of regulated and active 
tillage ; is adorned with smiling villages and crowded cities, 
and bears upon its bosom the diversified commerce of mighty 
commonwealths. 

Virginia having been planted under regal auspices, and ad- 
hering to the established church, it might have been supposed 
she would be slow to imbibe republican opinions, and the last 
^^0 set herself up in opposition to the government at home. 



47 



We have seen something of the measures adopted to keep her 
people in subjection, and to crush out every dawning manifes- 
tation of a free spirit. It has ever been the policy of tyrants 
to keep their subjects in ignorance. Sir William Berkley, in 
1671, in answer to certain inquiries submitted by the " Com- 
missioners of Foreign Plantations," touching the condition of 
the colony, says in his conclusion : " But I thank God there 
are no free schools or printing, and I hope we shall not have 
these hundred years ; for learning has brought disobedience, 
and heresy, and sects into the world, and printing has di- 
vulged them, and libels against the government. God keep 
us from both." 

The earliest evidence of a printing press in the colony is in 
1682, eleven years afterward, when, as the record is preserved 
by Hening, one John Buckner \vas called before Lord Culpep- 
per and the Council, to answer for printing the laws of 1680, 
without a license from his excellency ; and he and the printer 
were put under bond, in the penalty of one hundred pounds, 
not to print anything thereafter, until his Majesty's pleasure 
should be known. 

The most ancient relict of Virginia printing, and perhaps 
the first done in the colony, except the subject of Buckner's 
untoward experiment, is the edition of the " Revised Laws," 
published in 1733. The " Virginia Gazette,^'' published at 
Williamsburg, in August, 1736, at fifteen shillings per annum, 
was the first newspaper in the colony. In 1719, one hundred 
years after the settlement of New-England, there were two 
newspapers published in Boston, and in 1725, one was com- 
menced in New- York. 

The " Virginia Gazette,''^ though at the outset in the 
interest of the government, yet true to what would seem 
to be the very instincts of the press, afterward espoused 



48 



the popular cause, and became a powerfal auxiliary in the 
movement which preceded the revolution, and the measures 
which sustained its progress. 

Notwithstanding the oppressive policy so persistently ad- 
hered to by the mother country, especially during the dynasty 
of the Stuarts, we have seen how constant and determined 
was the opposition to this system. We have seen how bravely 
the House of Burgesses stood up against royal governors and 
aristocratic councils, often incurring the censure of being called 
*' factious." We have witnessed the people themselves rally- 
ing to the standard of a popular leader, the exponent of their 
own principles and opinions, and willingly hazarding the pen- 
alties of treason in defence of their rights and the privileges 
of their representatives. It may be emphatically said, that 
there never was a time when Virginia was not free — free in 
the personal independence of her citizens, and in the innate 
sentiment of the popular heart. They regarded themselves as 
voluntary members of a political association, in a land re- 
deemed by their own arms, and cultivated by their own labor ; 
and not asking for voice or representation in the English le- 
gislature, they claimed the right to legislate for themselves. 
They demanded the rights of free-born Englishmen, and Eng- 
lishmen could only be taxed with their own consent, or the 
consent of their representatives. 

Of the prevalence of these principles, the governors had 
frequent occasion to speak, in their communications with the 
government at home. Beverly, a contemporary writer, who 
brings the history of the colony down to the administration of 
Spotswood (1710), relates that Nicholson, a previous governor, 
wrote to the ministers in Queen Anne's time, that " Virginia 
was both numerous and rich, and of republican notions and 
principles, such as ought to be corrected and lowered in time, 



49 

and that now or never was the time to maintain the Queen's 
prerogative, and put a stop to these wrong, pernicious notions, 
which are improving daily, not only in Virginia, but in all 
her Majesty's other governments. A frovni from her Majesty 
now will do more than an army hereafter." 

At a later period, in the reign of G-eorge the First, Gover- 
nor Spotswood had occasion to invoke the attention of the minis- 
ters to the state of feeling prevailing in Virginia. He informs 
them that " a party was so encouraged by their success in 
removing former governors, that they are resolved no one shall 
sit easy who doth not entirely submit to their dictates ; this is 
the case at present, and will continue, unless a stop is put to 
thrir growing power, to whom not any one particular governor, 
but government itself, is equally disagreeable." ,■ 

So far from Virginia's being obnoxious to an imputation of 
backwardness or indifTcrence in the maintenance of colonial 
rights, her history proves that in every instance where she was 
not in the forefront of the contest, she vt^as Varainler paribus. 
So long as the right of taxation, on the part of Great Britain, 
was asserted in the form of restrictions upon commerce, by 
means of Navigation Acts, she had less ground to complain of 
practical evils flowing from such exercise of authority, than 
the more northern colonics. They were engaged in commerce, 
and held extensive shipping interest. She was purely agri- 
cultural. She had no cities or market towns. English ships 
regularly visited her rivers, and transported her pro lace- 
She had no great interest to trade in other bottoms, or with 
other than British ports, receiving, as she was for the most 
part content to do, English manufactures in exchange for her 
commodities. She submitted to these restrictions, as practi- 
cally innoxious to her. She never acrpiiesccd in thcni, but 
always held them wrong in principle. Her opposition had 

4 



50 



the more merit, because it was more disinterested. But for 
more than a century and a half, she had uniformly and exclu- 
sively levied all internal taxes by her own Assembly, and the 
first attempt to abridge- this right she resented with the utmost 
promptitude and determination. 

It must always remain the peculiar and incommunicable 
glory of Virginia, that she gave the first impulse to the revolu- 
tion, by the passage of the resolutions of May, 1765, in opposi- 
tion to the Stamp Act, when the voice of her groat orator, com- 
bining the epic grandeur of Homer with the fire of the old 
prophets, rang out a peal which vibrated across the continent ; 
that she was the first to institute that system of inter- colonial 
conference and correspondence which preceded the crisis of 
separation, and prepared the way for concerted and united 
action when it arrived ; that her resolution of the 15th day of 
May, 1776,' instructing her deputies in the Continental Con- 
gress to propose in that body the independence of the colonies, 
was the first authoritative annunciation of a fixed design to 
throw off allegiance to the British crown ; that she adopted 
and put into operation the first written Constitution of an in- 
dependent State in America, and of the first free Common- 
wealth in the world ; that it was one of her sons, who, in 
obedience to her command, submitted the proposition in a 
Congress of all the colonies, that they should assume the 
rights and bravo the perils of a separate and independent 
national existence ; that another son was the author of that 
immortal paper which declared us a free people, and announc- 
ed the causes of our separation ; and that another, still dearer 
and more honored, was, under God, the leader and deliverer 
who conducted the struggle to a safe and happy termination. 

It is not my ))urpose to speak of the services or generous 
sacrifices of the elder sister of the republic, during the absorb- 



51 



ing contest of the revolution ; of the conspicuous part she bore 
in the formative period of the government, or of her acts and 
opinions as an equal and honored member of a great co-part- 
nership of free states. These have passed and are passing 
into history, to abide the investigation of criticism and the 
scrutiny of time. Her children everywhere, however, without 
imputation of indelicacy, may claim that she has hitherto dis- 
charged her duty and her whole duty to the Constitution and 
the Union, and with a faith inspired by the past, and by every 
attribute of her character, may promise that she will perform 
it to the end. 

It was not by what the world calls accident that the fairest 
and most productive quarter of our globe was made known to 
civilized man, and opened up for his habitation at the precise 
periods when those events occurred, or that its occupancy and 
development were reserved for specific races of rnen, best of 
all others adapted to affect the ultimate destiny of the land 
submitted to their domination ; nor that in the mode of its subju- 
gation and settlement it should have been in parcels, by sepa- 
rate and distinct companies and colonies, who should cherish 
the remembrance of their respective origins, and preserving 
their own institutions and customs, should become, in the 
fullness of time, independent confederated states, retaining 
state equality and state sovereignty, but forming a union of 
the whole for protection and safety, both external and internal 
— the only practicable scheme of a free representative govern- 
ment applicable to a country of such territorial dimensions, 
and by consequence, of such diversified interest. 

In the fact that the portion of the new world now embracing 
the great American Union was settled after the discovery of 
the art of printing, and the revival of letters from the slumber 
and darkness of the middle a2;cs ; that it was at a time when 



52 



the feudal system, with its restraining and benumhing influ- 
ences, was everywhere giving way, and subsequent to the 
reformation of the doctrines and practice of the Christian 
church, none can fail to perceive the rulings of the Almighty 
wisdom, which governs in the armies of heaven and among 
the inhabitants of the earth. 

If the time for the beginning of the great work was fitly 
chosen, the agents by whom it was to be accomplished were 
not less so. The Anglo-Saxon and Celtic races, adapted, both 
by physical and mental capabilities, for the high destiny of 
founding a great empire, with admixtures of the Huguenot 
blood of France, were the primitive stocks still predonjinating, 
upon which have been engrafted varieties from nearly all the 
tribes and divisions of the human family. They brought 
with them the principles of civil liberty, and they planted here 
the institutions, social and political, under which those princi- 
ples were to expand and be protected. 

We need only contrast the history of the United States, 
springing from English colonics, the stability of its govern- 
ment, and the general excellence of administration, Vv'ith the 
history of Mexico and South America, planted by Spain and 
Portugal, to demonstrate that with us the human agencies and 
instrumentalities of national growth and power have been 
more auspiciously solicited. 

I have intimated that the settlement of this country, by 
separate colonies, under distinct government, and at succes- 
sive periods, rather than by a united attempt to occupy under 
a single jurisdiction, might well be referred to that providential 
guidance of which our history furnishes such abundant evi- 
dence. It has already been alluded to, as the head-spring of 
that federative feature of our system, so often confounding the 
foreigner with what he esteems the com]:)lexity of its machine- 



53 



ry, and yet so potential in the harmonious operations of the 
whole, with its several parts, and so essential to the safe ex- 
pansion and perpetuity of our Union. 

The conflict with the mother-country, which terminated in 
our independence, found the people of this country divided into 
thirteen colonies, independent of each other, and without any 
hond of union, except that arising from their common origin 
and allegiance, and that which existed in their common inter- 
est against the hostile legislation of Great Britain, especially 
the power of taxation claimed by the king and Parliament, 
The necessity of comhined power and united counsel, was ap- 
parent from the outset. These were sought to be obtained* 
first by the articles of confederation, and afterward by the 
Constitution. In every stage of their progress, and under all 
circumstance^-, they retained their distinct appellations, and 
their separate governments and nationalities. The most im- 
portant and most numerous subjects of legislation, were left 
exclusively to the state governments. These having jurisdic- 
tion over smaller territories and less population, each knowing 
perfectly the genius of its own people, and holding their pri- 
mary affection and confidence, are incomparably better fitted to 
legislate in all matters concerning internal and domestic affairs 
than the general government can be. Reserving to themselves 
all power, not expressly, or by implication alienated to the 
government of the whole, the people of the several states, or 
rather the people of the United States, acting within the civil or- 
ganizations of separate states, have vested in the federal govern- 
ment certain powers and functions, necessary to the purposes of 
its creation. Both these governments are governments of the 
people, formed for prescribed and distinct objects, each equally 
sovereign, within its appropriate sphere, and constituting to- 
gether that beautifully blended system of state and national 



54 



sovereignty, which, while it is without model or precedent, and 
sometimes presents the appearance of antagonism, may well 
be regarded the most self-correcting and self-perpetuating gov- 
ernment which the wit or the wisdom of man has ever devised. 

It has been esteemed an improvement in naval architecture 
to construct the vessel's hull in different segments, each per- 
fect of itself, and while aptly and firmly joined together, yet 
so framed that each apartment, in the event of disaster shall 
bear its own burthen. One or more of these segments may 
spring a leak, either by the violence of hidden rocks, or the 
wrenching of the storm, but the uninjured parts will still buoy 
up the whole, bringing passengers and cargo in safety to the 
shore. 

So with our ship of state. It is made up of separate politi- 
cal organizations, each a complete Commonwealth of itself, 
but united together and forming a single nation. Some of the 
states composing the confederacy may have just cause of com- 
plaint. Others, without cause, may be dissatisfied, and disturb 
the general harmony by threats of dissolution. Some, unmind- 
ful of the obligations of national brotherhood, may for a time 
neglect or refuse to perform the duties which the constitution 
imposes on them. But there always has been, and it is to be 
believed there always will be, at every period of danger, a suf- 
ficient number of the states, sound and true, unaffected either 
by passion or the decay of patriotism, to bear up and hold to- 
gether the whole union. 

The existence of stale governments insures the perpetuity 
of our system, so long as the rights of the states and the rights 
of the general government are severally respected. They both 
have appropriate and appointed orbits, and cannot come in con- 
tact with one another, without improper working of their ma- 
chinery, or some interference with the laws of their motion. 



55 



If this improper interference comes from the federal govern- 
ment, it is an infringement on the rights of all the states, 
which are equal and identical, both in the powers which they 
have reserved, and those which they have delegated, and in 
such event, a sufficient number of the states will always be 
found in co-operation, by their action at the ballot-box, by ar- 
gument and remonstrance, and by the exercise of their reserv- 
ed rights, to check the aggression, and bring about correction 
of administration. 

On the other hand, in the event of collision between states, 
each, as a separate Commonwealth, is armed with defensive 
power of its own, which may be immediately put into opera- 
tion ; in addition to which it is the duty of the general gov- 
ernment to suppress internal violence, as well as external as- 
sault, and to keep the peace among the states. Peaceful re- 
medies are also lodged in the proper tribunal. By the Consti- 
tution, the judicial power extends to all " controversies be- 
tween two or more states " — " between a state and citizens of 
another state," and " between citizens of different states." 

In the arts, simplicity of construction and operation is, as a 
general rule, a test of excellence. This is not applicable how- 
ever to the higher combinations of human governments, or to 
the laws governing the works of the Supreme Architect. AVe 
see antagonistic forces employed by a wisdom which is above 
man, to resist and balance each other. The orbs which roll in 
silent beauty above us and beneath us, are held with undevia- 
ting accuracy in their magic circles, by the very power of op- 
posing tendencies. It may well be said 

" All discord is liurmony not understood." ■ 

Every simple government is prone to misrule and despot- 
ism. There must be the same quantity of power in all gov- 



56 



ernments. There must Le an authority over life, liberty, and 
property. Without such power, no government could exist. 
The difierence between a despotic and a free government consists 
in this, that in the one all power is concentrated in a single head, 
which must necessarily be irresponsible ; while in the other 
it is distributed among various bodies of magistracy, each act- 
ing as a check on the other. 

Now with us, we not only have this distribution of powers, 
and these checks, both in the national and in the State govern- 
ments, but then we have also these two governments them- 
selves, acting as checks and balance wheels on each other. 

While, then, we may justly congratulate ourselves on hav- 
ing the freest government in the world — a government under 
which the rights of the citizen are furthest removed from the 
danger of violation, and in the administration of which every 
citizen participates, I see no reason why we may not, at the 
same time, regard it the strongest and most likely to be per- 
manent, of all the systems of government which have been in- 
stituted among men. 

I confess that my mind has been accustomed to consider 
the Constitution of the United States as a covenant of per- 
petual obligation, having binding efficacy under all circum- 
stances and for all time. That great instrument, the loftiest 
conception of political wisdom known to history, was but a 
solemn avowal, in the form of a written agreement between 
free States, of the absolute necessity of their condition. 

Long anterior to the Revolution, the colonics had become 
accustomed to look on each other as bound together in a com- 
mon fate. They had a common parentage, except the terri- 
tory now comprehended in the States of New- York and New- 
Jersey, which had been discovered and settled under the 
auspices of the Dutch West India Company, and was known as 



57 



tho New Netherlands. But as early as 1664 this too came 
under English rule, thus harmoniously arraying all the colo- 
nies under one general jurisdiction. The conquest of New 
Netherlands removed the only wedge of separation which di- 
vided the English colonics, and New- York and New-Jersey 
united Virginia to New-England. 

And these States, distinguished for deeds of patriotism, and 
upon whose soil tho mingled hlood of all the colonies was 
poured out in the battles of the Revolution, will continue to 
hold the North and South together in fraternal bonds. 

Proof is not wanting, not merely of friendly relations between 
the colonies, at an early period in their history, but of a tend- 
ency to reciprocal dependence and union. 

There was a confederation of the New-England colonies as 
early as 1643. This was brought about for the purpose of 
protection against the encroachments of the French from 
Canada and Acadia, the Dutch from the Hudson, and safety 
against Indian aggression. It continued for more than half a 
century. 

The assemblage of the Governors of Virginia and New- York, 
and the Agent of the New-England Confederacy, at Albany, 
in 1667, to treat jointly with the Five Nations, belongs to that 
system of colonial action dei'eloping an early proclivity to 
united counsels. 

When, during the administration of Spotswood, South Caro- 
lina applied to Virginia for military aid to repel Indian inva- 
sion, succor was not only furnished, but the Virginia au- 
thorities also addressed communications to the Governors of 
Maryland, New- York, and New-England, urging those colonies 
to furnish assistance by sea. 

The war with the French and their Indian allies, and which 
was brought to a termination by the Treaty of Paris, of 1763, 



58 

served not only to give confidence to the inexperienced troops 
of the colonies- brought now for the first time, both in aid and 
in conflict v^^ith the drilled soldiery of Europe, but was also 
suggestive of what might be accomplished by the united forces 
of the colonists themselves. 

For more than half a century it had been predicted ihat the 
colonies would in time set up for themselves, and always, that 
they would act together in forming a new government. When 
the time arrived, they did act in concert. They assembled a 
Continental Congress, composed of deputies from all the colo- 
nies. As united colonics, they levied war, raised armies, and 
appointed a Commander-in-Chief It was as unUed colonies 
that they declared their independence, and set out in the career 
of a free people. It was as united colonies they achieved that 
independence. When peace was made, and independence ac- 
knowledged, it was by a treaty with the United States of 
America, and it was the independence of the United States 
of America, acquired by the blood and treasure of. all the 
colonies, that was acknowledged and admitted by the mother 
country. 

The Articles of Confederation, purporting to be signed and 
ratified on the 9th day of July, 177S, and which remained in 
force until the adoption of the Constitution, are styled " Arti- 
cles of Confederation and perpetnal union of the Colonies.''^ 

The Constitution itself, adopted and ratified by the people 
of the several states, carries on its fore-front the unmista- 
kable announcement of its origin and purpose : 

" We, the people of the United States, in order to form a 
more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tran- 
quillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general 
welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and to 
our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the 
United States of America.''- 



59 

There never was a time when any one of the states, singly 
and of itself, was free and independent. No single stale 
achieved its liberty, either by conquest or by treaty. Each 
state, as a member of the " United States," partook of the 
freedom and independence acquired in the name and by the 
energies of all, acting in combination, and under an agreement 
of " perpetual union." 

One of the great difficulties experienced under the Articles 
of Confederation, was that the Continental Congress had no 
power to enforce its own enactments. These were to be exe- 
cuted by the several states. The result was, that the enact- 
ments themselves, instead of having the efficacy of law, were 
more in the nature of recommendations, and in case they were 
not carried out by the states, there was "no remedy. There 
was an absolute necessity for a government whose powers of 
action, on all subjects committed to its jurisdiction, should 
pervade the states, and whose laws should be capable of execu- 
tion, propria vigore. 

The modern heresies of nullification and secession are alike 
unknown to the Constitution. The supposed right of a state 
to withdraw from the Union, at its will and pleasure, is utterly 
subversive of every just conception of our system of govern- 
ment ; is inconsistent with all the incidents of its history, and 
finds no more warrant in the Constitution, than does the au- 
thority sometimes claimed for the states to abrogate or impede 
the execution of a law of Congress, while remaining in the 
Union. 

The right to withdraw, or to overthrow, is a right which be- 
longs to the people of the states and of the United States, but 
it is outside the Constitution. It is that right which belongs 
to the people, under every form of government ; a right when 
oppression becomes intolerable, to resort to revolution. 



60 



Thus far in the progress of our great experiment, the 
government instituted by our fathers has happily surmounted 
all the obstacles which have at any time obstructed it, and es- 
caped all the dangers by which it has been threatened. 

There is at this time, as it is believed, but one subject of 
political controversy of sufTicient magnitude to disturb the 
general harmony, and this, in the sober judgment of the more 
thoughtful, has assumed its present angry aspect, under the 
influence of mismanagement and passion, rather than by reason 
of any intrinsic difficulty of the questions which it presents. 

In the dealings of Providence, the white man, the red man, 
and the black man, were brought together on American soil. 
In the same year that the Puritan fathers of New-England 
landed at Plymouth, and began to lay the foundation of their 
political structures, deep in the principles of human equality 
and republicanism, and shortly after the first representative 
assembly of Virginia, twenty African negroes arrived in the 
James river, on a Dutch ship, and were sold as slaves. 

The fate of the red man has already been adverted to. 
The conjunction of the Caucasian and the Ethiopian was 
not destined to such disastrous results. History has proven 
that freedom and slavery may " flourish in social proximity," 
and experience has demonstrated that if either has suffered by 
the contact, it has not been the subjugated race. If Africa 
has been aggrieved by the new world, in the reception of a 
portion of her people as bondsmen, America has more than 
redeemed the wrong, by the elevation of their condition ; and 
now, after the civilizing and Christianizing influences of a little 
more than two centuries, she presents to the world some four 
millions of their descendants, incomparably superior in all the 
elements, to any like number which now exist, or ever existed 
in the home of their ancestors. 



61 



This is not the time, or the occasion to enter upon any 
vindication of an institution established by the laws of fifteen 
of the states of our federal Union, Under the peculiar and hap- 
py conformation of our system of government, to which I have 
before referred, every matter of an exceptional nature is restrict- 
ed to the recognizance of the state tribunals. If slavery be an 
evil, either moral or political, it is one attaching solely to the 
states within which it exists, and does not extend to those 
which refuse to tolerate it-, or to the nation. The question of 
its establishment, its maintenance, or its abrogation, is purely 
domestic, and belongs exclusively to the jurisdiction of the 
state governments. Neither the general government, nor the 
non-slaveholding states, have the slightest right to interfere 
with the relation of master and servant, as it exists in the 
slave states, more than with the terms of apprenticeship, the 
distribution of property, imprisonment for debt, the right of 
suffrage, or any other matter of state policy or regulation. 
Upon all tliese subjects the state is supreme and sovereign, 
never having delegated to any other power a right to take 
jurisdiction over them. 

At the beginning of the revolution, all the colonies held 
slaves. Previous to the formation of the federal constitution, 
in 1787, Massachusetts, by a decision of her Supreme Court, 
pronounced slavery to be inconsistent with her Bill of Rights, 
whicli declared all men by nature free and equal, and it was 
held to be abolished. Some of the other northern states had, 
perhaps, taken initiatory measures for prospective emancipa- 
tion. Several of those commercial states had been actively 
engaged in the slave trade, and some of them, at one time, 
possessed nine slaves in proportion to their white population, 
than others of the southern states. Climatic influences had 
more to do with the abolition of slavery in some of the north- 



62 



ern States than conscientious scruples as to the lawfuhiess of 
the institution. 

But few questions arose, or could arise, in forming the Consti- 
tution of the United States, connected with the institution of 
slavery. It belonged to the states to determine, each for it- 
self, in its own way, and in its own time, whether that insti- 
tution should be allowed or disallowed within their respective 
limits. The general government, which was about to be in- 
vested with the power over commerce — one of the leading 
necessities which brought about the formation of such govern- 
ment, would necessarily have authority to legislate on the 
subject of the foreign slave trade. There was a general con- 
currence of opinion that the importation of slaves should 
be arrested. South Carolina and Georgia were not willing 
that this prohibition should take place at once, and the ques- 
tion was finally adjusted by the ninth section of the first arti- 
cle of the Constitution, under which Congress was forbidden 
to prohibit the " migration or importation of such persons as 
any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit,'' 
prior to the year 1808. This is one instance in which the 
Constitution, recognizing slavery as an existing fact, and looking 
to its continuance, deals with the subject in its external in- 
cidents, and provides that the increase of slaves, by foreign 
importation, into any state desiring to receive them, shall not 
be arrested prior to the day assigned. 

It is well known that Congress did prohibit the further im- 
portation of slaves, by a law which took effect as soon as the 
Constitution permitted its operation, and also declared the 
slave trade thereafter to be piracy. In all this the South has 
fally acquiesced, and, I verily believe that, notwithstanding 
the sectional strifes and animosities which have so unfortvi- 
nately been engendered of late years, by extremists on both 



63 



sides, there is no considerable number of the southern people 
who would be willing to-day to have the act of Congress re- 
pealed, and the slave trade re-opened. Virginia is thorouo-h- 
ly committed against it, by all her antecedents, and by the 
present convictions of her people of all parties and all classes. 
It may be said with truth that the people of Virginia enter- 
tain a traditional and hereditary opposition to the slave trade. 
Repeatedly, during her colonial condition, the General Assem- 
bly passed prohibitory laws against this traffic, and imposed 
prohibitory duties on the importation of slaves. But these 
enactments were uniformly negatived by the Governor, or by 
the king. 

The Convention of Hay, 177G, which framed the first State 
constitution, and instructed their deputies in Congress to move 
the independence of the colonies, adopted resolutions prohibit- 
ing the further importation of slaves. This was eleven years 
in advance of the Constitution of the United States. The 
first moment of her existence as an independent commonwealth 
was employed to announce this fixed sentiment and desire, 
which had been so often defeated by those who ruled her des- 
tiny as a colony. 

Again, in the Virginia Convention of 17S8, convened to 
consider [and discuss the Constitution of the United States, 
the postponement of the prohibitory action of Congress until 
1808, was strongly urged as a reason against its ratification. 

Another provision of the Constitution, which has relation to 
the slave population, is that which prescribes the apportion- 
ment of representatives and direct taxes. Under the articles 
of confederation, the states met in the General Congress as 
sovereigns and equals, each having the same vote upon every 
question, and not in proportion to their respective population. 
It became necessary however, to adopt a rule of contri- 



64 



bution toward the expenses of the government, and to carry- 
on the conflict in which they were engaged. It was inconve- 
nient, if not impracticable, to ascertain the wealth of the 
several States, as a basis of taxation. It was easier to adopt 
numbers as an exponent of contribution, and it was believed 
the result would be a sufficient approximation to the relative 
ability of the respective members of the confederacy. AVhen, 
however, it came to be determined what classes should be em- 
braced in enumerating the population of the several states, a 
question arose as to the disposition to be made of the slaves, 
who formed a part of the numbers. The southern members 
argued, that if included at all, the whole number should not 
be counted as persons, inasmuch as they were less productive 
than white laborers, and, in .some instances, a mere charge and 
burden. On the other hand, it was maintained, by northern 
gentlemen, that they should all be taken into the c^stiniation. 
Mr. Adams declared that they were as productive as the fish- 
ermen and other laborers of the North, and that there was no 
more reason t(j exclude the one class than the other. In that 
spirit of wise conciliation, which so distinguished the founders 
of the republic, the difliculty was adjusted, by providing, that 
in making up the quotas of the several States according to 
their population, three fifths of the slaves should be included. 
In the Convention of 1787, the qut;stion was presented in a 
diderent aspect. It now became necessary to determine hf)W 
far the slave population was to become a basis of representa- 
tion as well as of taxation. A " more perfect Union" was 
about to be formed. A national government was to be estab- 
lished, with a legislative department, in one branch of which 
the stutcs were to be; represented as stntes and as e(piids, but 
in whose other hall, tiu; people of tiie states, as component 
parts of the whole nation, were to be lepresented according to 



65 

their numbers. Here parties and seetions changed front. Each 
state was anxious to obtain as large a share of representative 
pov/er as it could. It was admitted that population, not 
wealth, was the true basis of representation. But northern men 
now contended that slaves should be regarded as property, not 
as persons, and that they should not be enumerated for repre- 
sentation. On the other hand, it was maintained by the South, 
that equal and confederated states being about to form a 
national Union, each had a right to count its whole popula- 
tion, without regard to peculiarity of condition, as to any 
portion of it ; that one state had no right to inquire into the 
character of the people of another state, and ascertaining that 
a part were apprentices, a part indented servants, and a part 
slaves for life, make the terms and conditions of a Union de. 
pcnd upon the nature of its population. 

Again, the good genius of compromise and conciliation pre- 
sided over the deliberations and conduced to a happy result. 
The controversy was adjusted by modifying the claims of each 
party, and adopting three fifths of the slave population as a 
basis both of representation and taxation. The only remain 
ing provision of the Constitution, relative to slavery, is in the 
following words : 

" No person hired to service or labor in one state, under 
the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence 
of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such ser- 
vice or labor, but shall be delivered up, on claim of the party 
to whom such service or labor may be due." 

This mandate of the Constitution, which is as imperative 
and obligatory as any other portion of the instrument, was but 
the codification of a principle, recognized to some extent in the 
comity of nations. The reclamation of absconding appren- 

5 



G6 



tices, indented servants, and fugitives from justice, was allow- 
aLle between independent and unconnected states ; and, in 
some instances, became the subject of treaty stipulations. 
There is nothing objectionable in the principle itself. It is 
only permitting the fugitive to be returned to his former status, 
to be judged and disposed of, whether claimed for service or 
crime, by the laws of his domicil. If it be the case of an es- 
caping debtor, there is no reason on principle why he should not 
be returned to answer the demand of his creditor, according 
to the law under which his obligations were contracted. If it 
be the case of a murderer, or other felon, the common safety 
of all requires that he be punished, but the appropriate pun- 
ishment can only be indicted in accordance with the penalties 
of the law which he has violated. He must, therefore, be re- 
turned to the place of his crime. 

The fugitive slave is, by the law of the state from which 
he escapes, the property of his master. The owner has a 
right to pursue and retake. Conceding the right of every 
country to devise and enact its own laws of property, and to 
regulate its own domestic affairs, it is difficult to perceive 
upon what ground, even under the mere comity of nations, 
the government to whose jurisdiction the fugitive may escape, 
can undertake to determine the question of surrender, or de- 
tejition, by first deciding the propriety or impropriety of the 
statutes in force in the country from which the person has 
fled. Virginia, surely, would not have been justified in with- 
holding from the authorities of North Carolina a horse- 
thief fleeing across the border, because the offender, if found 
guilty in the latter state, would by her law be punished with 
death. It has been decided, however, by the English Courts, that 
on the arrival of a slave within the British realm, he became 
free ; that slavery being unknown to the common law, and 



G7 



not allowed by statute, could not be recognized as a personal 
condition, either temporary or permanent, and in the absence 
of treaty stipulation, the restoration of the person claimed 
would not be adjudged.* 

As if to avoid all doubt or question on the subject between 
the American States, it was cxpressl}' provided by the funda- 
mental law of the Union, that persons bound to service in one 
state, escaping into another state, shall not, by any law or 
regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, 
but shall be delivered up on the claims of the party to whom 
such service or labor may be due. 

The language of this clause of the Constitution is plain, 
precise, and significant. There is no mistaking its import, or 
escape from its obligation. No law or regulation of a non- 
slaveholding state, can discharge a person who flees into such 
state from the service to which he is held under the laws of 
the state from which he may escape. Neither the people or 
the legal tribunals of the state in which he may seek an 

* As early as 1662, Virginia had reason to complain of the illegal discharge of 
a servant belonging to one of her citizens, by the Court of Boston. The occur- 
rence is not without interest, as the first recorded example of an extra-territorial 
claim to interfere with the relation of master and servant, and the earliest prece- 
dent for that system of retaliation which has been of late years proposed in some 
of the Southern .States, and which such interference is so well calculated to sug. 
gest to minds inflamed by a sense of injury. 

The proceedings of the Assembly, on the occasion referred to, arc thus pre- 
served ; 

" The Committees report that the great loss and damage sustained by Mr. 
William Dromond, through the injustice done by the Court of Boston, in New- 
England, ought to be repaired ; and since the said Court have returned no satis- 
factory answer to the letter of the honorable Governor and Council of Virginia, 
we are necessitated to find the least of ill expedients to repair the said Drum, 
mond ; it is therefore ordered by this present grand Assembly, there be seized, to 
the value of forty pounds, sterling money, out of the estates of some persons re- 
ating to the said government of Boston, which is in consideration of wages due 
for such a servant's time, as was illegally claimed from the said Drununond's em- 
ploy, in New-England, and doe accordingly order the same." 



G8 



asylum, are permitted to consider whether he is rightly 
held to service by the laws of the state from which he has 
tied, or otherwise. It is not their province to determine 
wdiether slavery is an evil or a blessing, or whether consistent 
or inconsistent with the will of G-od : the only question being, 
" is he held to service or labor under the laws of the state 
from which he has come ?" If he is so held, then, whether 
such law be right or wrong, he is "to be delivered up to the 
party to whom such service or labor may be due," notwith- 
standing any law or regulation of the state into which he has 
fled. 

Now here is a duty, not resting upon national comity^ 
merely, or the obligations of a treaty between independent 
nations, but upon a solemn covenant, constituting an essen- 
tial condition of that bond which Avas to unite us forever as 
one people. It was the compact made by our fathers, for 
themselves and their posterity, and never to be broken or for- 
gotten. They had to deal with all the difficulties growing 
out of the existence of African slavery. They met those diffi- 
culties in the spirit of brave, true-hearted patriots, and look- 
ing them full in the face, disposed of them justly and with 
far-seeing wisdom. They did not hesitate to provide for the 
rendition of fugitives from service. They concurred with the 
great apostle of the Gentiles, that it was not only no moral 
offence, but a positive duty, to return the runaway slave to his 
master, leaving the sin of the relation, if there be any, be- 
tween the master and his Maker. We have no right to set our- 
selves up as better or holier than they. 

Nor are the governments of the non-slaveholding states 
called upon to perform any unwelcome or distasteful duty of 
legislation to carry out this requirement of the Constitution. 
The legislative, executive, and judicial powers of the General 



69 



G-overnment are operative, in every stale, upon every subject 
connected to its jurisdiction. This is one of those subjects, 
made so by express provision. Congress has, by legislation, 
supplied the remedies. It is the duty of the Federal Courts 
to expound and interpret this legislation, whenever an occasion 
for their interposition shall arise, and of the National Executive 
to see that the law is faithfully executed. 

The Southern States do not ask, at the hands of non-slave- 
holding states, any legislative action in aid of their rights. 
Their rights are secured by the Constitution, and are to be en- 
forced by laws passed in pursuance thereof. 

All that is required of the non-slaveholding states is, that 
they will abstain from nullifying or impeding the acts of 
Congress made to carry out and fulfill this constitutional pro- 
vision. They are asked to permit the Constitution and laws 
of the nation to be enforced within their limits, without let or 
hindrance. They are expected, in the courtesy of neighborly 
commonwealths, but more especially in the spirit of fraternal 
concord, and by the ties of constitutional obligation, to tender 
no invitation or encouragement calculated to inspire our col- 
ored population with discontent at home, or induce them toes- 
cape therefrom ; that when fugitives from service, they will not 
obstruct their recapture, nor be found in hostile array against 
the mandate of the organic law, which requires the surrender 
of the fugitive. 

Is there anything of odium or of hardship in this ? 
Anything which the virtue of good citizenship would not 
induce us to do apart from legal obligation ? Should it be 
regarded by any one a disagreeable duty to comply with the 
constitution and the law which he is sworn to support, espe- 
cially when that duty may be performed by mere inaction and 
silence ? There is nothiner whatever connected with either 



70 



the enactment or execution of the fugitive slave law which 
should for a moment produce either private disquietude or pub- 
lic excitement. A simple acquiescence in the plain and rea- 
sonable duties which the Constitution and laws impose ; a 
mere forbearance to do acts which violate both will tranquil- 
lize the public mind and re-inaugurate those peaceful and 
happy relations among the American people, which every mo- 
tive of interest should conspire to restore and maintain. 

The topics connected with slavery in the territories of the 
United States are too numerous and important to form a sub- 
ject of general discussion now. Besides, they have been per- 
mitted to enter so largely into the party politics of the day, 
and constitute so potent an element in the political agitations 
in progress at the present time, that their consideration, in some 
of the aspects which they present, might not be deemed ger- 
mane to the occasion which brings us together. 

We are assembled, however, to commemorate the laying 
the first foundation stone of that mighty fabric of free govern- 
ment which, having hitherto withstood the fury of the storm 
and the rocking of the earthquake, and become politically 
" the hope of all the ends of the earth," is said now to be tot- 
tering to its fall, by reason of some inherent weakness or vice 
in its constitution. Surely, it is not out of place, in contem- 
plating the beginning, to glance also at the threatened consum- 
mation, or to inquire whether there is, in truth, some irre- 
mediable disease in the body politic, which must, necessarily, 
bring it to an end, or whether so dire a catastrophe may be 
averted. 

I assume that the Union is not to be dissolved on accovmt of 
any abstract opinion, by whomsoever or wheresoever enter- 
tained. There must be some practical evil, some injury inflict- 
ed, some right withheld or invaded, of sufficient magnitude to 



71 

justify such an event, before the citizens of any portion of the 
country would set themselves to work to bring it about. 

Now, there is at this time, no practical issue presented in 
regard to slavery in the territories, nor can there be, except as 
the territories shall successively apply for admission into the 
Union, as states. None of them are apphcants, except Kansas. 
This territory, after having been made the scene of unprece- 
dented excitement, and of bloody feud, has framed a constitu- 
tion which excludes slavery, the people thus deciding the ques- 
tion at the proper time, and in the mode most acceptable to 
themselves. The South has always maintained it to be the 
right of the people of a territory to decide this question for 
themselves, when they come to form their constitution, and to 
assume the rights of a sovereign state. The South therefore, 
stands pledged to the admission of Kansas — so far as that point 
in her application is concerned. To the North, this feature cf 
the Kansas constitution is, of course, unobjectionable — and no 
difficulties can occur on that subject. 

The same principle has been settled in the cases of Utah, 
New-Mexico, and Nebraska. By the law of their organiza- 
tion, as territories, they are to be admitted, with or without 
slavery, as shall be provided in their respective constitutions 
when they shall become states. There is no just ground to 
apprehend that there will be any difhculty when new states 
shall be carved out of the territory now included in the State 
of Texas, or to anticipate that objection will be made to their 
admission, if their constitutions shall allow slavery. 

Why then should we vex ourselves with questions which 
may never arise, or which may never have the slightest practi- 
cal importance ? Why talk about dissolving the Union on ac- 
count of evils which may never occur. 

There is this distinction between the G-overnment of the 



United States and those of the states. The states are origina I 
governments^ retaining all the powers whieh they have not 
parted with ; while that of the United States is secondary, 
created by compact, and has only such powers as have been 
delegated to it. The United States holds the territories as a 
trustee for the common benefit of the people of all the states. 
It holds them subject to the right in the people of the territory 
to form a state, when its population is sufficient, and to be ad- 
mitted into the Union with such a constitution as they may 
prefer ; Congress having no right to prescribe its character, 
except that it be republican in form. 

A territory, so long as it remains in a territorial condition, is 
an appendage of the Grenoral Government. In some instances 
the United States have governed tne territories by the direct 
legislation of Congress, while in others, from motives of con- 
venience, this power has been delegated to a territorial legisla- 
tion, subject to an authority of revision or repeal, reserved to 
the National Legislature. I think it may well be admitted 
that Congress, on its part, has no right to establish slavery by 
law in the territories, for two reasons : First, because acting as 
trustee, it has no right to administer the trust-subject in a 
manner that may prejudice the rights, either of the people of 
the States at large, who are the ccstnis que trust, or of that 
portion of them who may settle in the territory, and upon 
whom, sovereignty is ultimately to devolve when it shall be 
erected into a state. Secondly, because such action of Con- 
gress, if binding at all, could only be so during the continu- 
ance of the territorial status, and could not afleet the right of 
the people, after it had become a State, to abolish slavery, if 
they should think proper to do so. 

If the proposition that Congress has no right to establish 
slavery in a territory be true, the converse of that proposition, 



73 



which is, that Congress has no right to prohibit slavery in a 
territory, is equally true. The existence of the power in the 
one instance, rests upon the same ground precisely as the other. 

Another consequence must also follow, that the power of a 
territorial legislature being derivative, and in substitution of 
the power of Congress, cannot exceed the original jurisdiction 
from which it descends, and that if the G-eneral Grovernment 
has no authority to establish or prohibit slavery, neither has 
the special government of the territory. 

It would seem to bo a conclusive answer, both to the mooted 
question of " Squatter Sovereignty," and the " Wilmot Pro- 
viso," that neither a law of Congress, nor of the territorial 
legislature, can preclude the action of a state when once 
clothed with the attributes of sovereignty. Suppose the peo- 
ple of Ohio, in the exercise of their unquestionable right to 
alter, reform, or abolish their present constitution, should de- 
termine by a new state constitution to admit slaves, notwith- 
standing the ordinance of 1787, or that Oregon, now that she 
has become a state, should think proper to establish slavery, 
notwithstanding the " Wilmot Proviso " inserted in the act 
organizing it as a territory ; where is any power to prevent it 
in either case ? Or suppose, e convuso, that in the act organi- 
zing New-Mexico, it had been, or that in establishing a terri- 
tory hereafter in Texas, it shall be, provided, that slavery 
should exist in the territory, and that they shall come in as 
slave states. Can any one doubt the power of the people, in 
either instance, to abolish slavery at any time they may think 
proper, after they shall have been admitted into the Union as 
equals with the other states ? How, in any of these hypothet- 
rical cases, would the power of Congress be vindicated as 
against the disobeying state ? Take the example of Ohio, or 
Oregon, who are supposed to have established slavery by a 



74 



new constitution, conld Congress set the slaves free ? Could 
those states be forced to change their organic law ? Could 
they he put out of the Union ? If the slave should sue fur his 
freedom, the state courts would he hound to sustain the state 
constitution, for they could have no power to declare the con- 
stitution to be Mwconstitutional. If ho should go before the 
Federal tribunals, he v>^ould be met by the decision of the 
Supreme Court in the " Dred Scott " case, (conclusive on that 
question, if on no other,) that suits of negroes, claiming to be 
free, cannot be instituted in the courts of the United States 
If the slave and the master were both inhabitants of the same 
state, he would be cut oil on another ground also, that if even 
he were entitled to be considered a citizen of the United States, 
the Court only takes jarisdiction between citizens of different 
states^ — or, if these diliiculties were overcome, would not the 
Supreme Court, upon every principle, and on the whole theory 
of our government, be forced to hold that the new constitution 
was the legitimate offspring of that uncontrollable power of a 
sovereign state, by which it may establish its own institutions, 
and regulate its own domestic affairs, and that this right can 
no more be impaired by legislation in advance, than by subse- 
quent interference. 

Take the example of New-Mexico, or of a state formed out 
of Texas, supposed to have come into the Union with slaves, 
and with that condition prescribed for them by the laws organ- 
izing them into territories, and after their admission having 
abolished that relation — who could complain? Would the 
slave owner be entitled to complain that he had settled in the 
state, with his property, while a territory, and upon the faith 
of the provision that it was to be a slavchfjlding State, and 
that the new constitution abolishing slavery was void, because 
uniust and invasive of vested rights ? Could he invoke the aid 



75 

of the General Government to sustain him against the action of 
his own state ? Would the General Government, by the action of 
any of its departments, legislative, judicial, or executive, or by 
all united, have any power to compel the state to adhere to 
the condition of its original organization, and re-establish 
slavery ? None will maintain that any such authority exists. 
Does it exist in the one case more than in the other ? If the 
government of the United States has no power to force a state 
to restore slavery, having abolished it, can it, by any possibility, 
have more power to compel a state to abolish the institution, 
after the state has established it? 

Under the Constitution, the states of this Union are to be 
equal — equal in all the rights, powers, privileges, and immu- 
nities belonsfinw to free states. If ordinances, acts of Con- 
gress, and acts of territorial legislatures, stamping peculiarities 
of condition upon states afterwards to be formed, are lawful 
and binding, what becomes of this equality among the states ? 
Massachusetts or New- York may re-establish involuntary ser- 
vitude, should they think proper to do so, neither the ordi- 
nance of 1787, or any act of a territorial legislature having 
impaired that right. Ohio and Oregon may not, because of 
certain restrictions placed upon them at their birth. Virginia 
and Kentucky may abolish slavery when to them it may seem 
good ; but states which have come into the Union since, with 
that institution provided for them by acts of Congress, cannot 
alter their condition. 

I have ventured to submit these remarks, on a subject 
which has been made to assume an unusual degree of inter. 
est, for the purpose of deducing this conclusion, that neither 
Congress, nor the territorial legislature, should attempt either 
to establish or prohibit slavery ; that their action on the sub- 
ject is a nullity, which of itself proves both the inexpediency 



70 



of the act and the want of power to perform it ; that the only 
authority competent to decide the question of slavery or non- 
slavery belongs to the people of the territory themselves, not 
while in a state of pupilage and dependance, without power, 
except that conferred by Congress, which itself has no power 
to decide, but when they put on the toga virilis of nations, 
and assume the high responsibilities and rights of sovereignty. 

Let the territories remain without restriction, open alike to 
settlement by the citizens of all the States. If Southern men 
choose to take their servants with them, they will do so at the 
hazard of having their right to retain them there terminated 
by the inhibitions of a State constitution, when one shall be 
adopted. All they ask is equality of right. They may not 
choose to go ; what they deny is the right of any power to ex- 
clude them from the territory, the common property of the 
nation, if they shall think proper to take their chances there. 

We all remember that not many years since, under a rule of 
the House of Representatives, abolition petitions were refused to 
be received, and how persistently the petitions continued to be 
presented, and what consumption of time and scenes of confu- 
sion that rule brought about. It was afterward rescinded, 
and since that time scarce a petition has found its v/ay to 
Washington. It was not that the petititioners exj)eGted their 
prayers to be complied with so much as a desire to make a vin- 
dication of the right of petition. We, of the South, are now 
satisfied that it is best to have no prohibitory rule on the sub- 
ject. 

The same result would follow, in some degree, if Congress 
and the territorial legislatures, onutting all enactments of ex- 
clusion, would be content to leave the question of slavery to 
the influence of natural causes, and tlie decision of the i)ropcr 
parties at the proper time. 



77 



The truth is, geography and climate will settle the contro- 
versy, whatever may be the zeal and ardor of the contestants. 
Besides which, the preponderance of the white population of 
the north, and their greater aptitude for migration, should fur- 
nish them a sufficient ground of confidence, that thoy will 
have at least their full share of influence in moulding the 
character and shaping the institutions of the new states. 

The uneasiness in the public mind, growing out of the agita- 
tion of the slavery question, which, it must be admitted, has 
become extensive, if not alarming, has been occasioned chiefly 
by the mischievous introduction of a purely local and domestic 
subject into the arena of general political controversy, and by 
the erroneous conceptions of the institution itself, which have 
been unfortunately imbibed by a large number of the people 
of the free states. 

At the South, the madness of party ambition, in its zeal to 
secure even an intra-state triumph, has not hesitated to assail 
the fidelity of political adversaries owing allegiance to the 
same commonwealth, and connected by every tie with the 
same social interests. In national contests, " Abolition " has 
been the " mad-dog " cry, with which the advocates of opposing 
measures and of rival candidates have assailed and denounced 
each other. 

In the North, the same causes have been at work, under 
different forms and manifestations, perhaps, but leading to the 
same results, and engendering the same lamentable alienation. 
Here, too, the glittering baubles and trappings of power have 
dazzled the eye of the ambitious. The high places of national 
distinction are to be reached, and if not attainable for lack of 
a claim so broad and meritorious as to challenge the general 
approval, they are to be secured by sectional combination, in 
which the stronger section is to be arrayed against the weaker, 



78 



upon a supposed " irrepressible conflict " of interests between 
the two. 

The politicians of the South, and of the North, have both 
erred, grievously erred, in ever having made a domestic insti- 
tution of the states a topic of political discussion and a watch- 
word of party. This error is only to be corrected . by that 
power which makes and unmakes politicians — the power of the 
people. Let the great conservative masses, which, thank 
God ! yet remain true to duty, and unpolluted by ambition, 
in every section of the country, resolve, with one mind and one 
heart, to reject slavery from the platforms of party, and to de- 
mand of all aspirants to public favor, that they stand on the 
Constitution as our fathers made it, and as our fathers under- 
stood and administered it. 

The misconception which has prevailed among our brethren 
of the North in regard to slavery in the Southern States, it is 
to be hoped, is passing away. The fiery breath of the orator, 
or the captivating genius of the novelist, catching inspiration 
from the horror of some exceptional occurrence, may produce 
a temporary furor, unfriendly to calm and truthful inquiry* 
But the mind, recovering from its agitation, asks for facts, and 
refuses to hold a whole people guilty of the most infamous 
cruelty and rapine without proof, or, upon evidence of a spo- 
radic wickedness, condemned and held in execration by those 
in whose vicinity it may have been manifested, in as full meas- 
ure as it will be by the distant philanthropist to whom its 
perpetration is to be made known by exaggerated report. 

Abstract opinions on slavery are not applicable to that sys- 
tem as it exists in the Southern States at the present day. 
We profess to be, and are, a practical people. Now, if slavery 
were abolished in the Southern States to-morrow, who would 
be benefited by the act ? Not the slaves, who would be help- 
less paupers, and to whom labor is a necessary condition, 



79 

whose very nature prompts to dependence and reliance on 
others ; wlio, imrestrauied, would become the victims of every 
vice, and, unprotected, the easy and certain dupes of the de. 
signing and unprincipled. Are they to be subjected to such 
vagrant acts as prevail in the Free States, by which vicious 
idlers and paupers are withheld from beggary and crime ? 
How infinitely preferable is their present condition, which se- 
cures to them a constant and certain support, the sympathy of 
known friends, religious instruction, and medical succor. Mo- 
tives of humanity and of interest unite to guarantee kind treat- 
ment. It would be ditlicultto find elsewhere a laboring popu- 
lation so looked after and cared for, so free from the burdens 
and anxieties of life, or so happy and joyous as the negroes of 
the Southern States. If any desire to see the children of toil 
radiant in smiling contentment, free of dread that their appli- 
cation for employment may be refused or their wages unpaid ; 
exempt from the pressure of debt or the fear of want ; to hear 
the ready joke or the ring of the merry laugh, let them visit a 
Southern plantation. If you wish to see specimens of gayety 
and fashion, the nicest cut of the mustache, or the most ap- 
proved extension of crinoline, make acquaintance with the 
colored ladies and gentlemen of our Southern cities. If you 
desire to look in upon a devout and orderly congregation of 
three thousand worshippers, and to hear the most stirring 
choral music in America, go to the African church at Richmond. 
Would the Free States be benefited by emancipation ? Let 
the neighboring British provinces, already sensible of the bur- 
den thrown upon them by a comj)aratively inconsiderable ac- 
cession of free negroes, answer the inquiry. Are the depend- 
ent laborers of the Free States themselves prepared for the dis- 
astrous competition which might be occasioned by the libera- 
tion of some four million of slaves ? Is there less difliculty to 
be found in the financial view of the question? The slaves 



80 



of the South represent in vahie, as property, at least 
$3,500,000,000. The last annual export of their labor reached 
$200,000,000, of which cotton alone was of the value of 
$161,000,000. Is the country at large, Free States or Slave 
States, prepared for the consequences, direct or remote, to be 
brought about by the annihilation of this amount of pro])erty and 
productions ? Is the city of New- York, the great commercial em- 
porium of the nation, to be benefited by emancipation ? Is 
Boston, whoso merchant princes " go down to the sea in great 
ships ?" Are the cotton mills of Massachusetts ready for such 
a catastrophe ? I need not point to the condition of the South 
in such an event. 

Wo ask our Northern brethren to remember that slavery 
with us diticrs from the ancient servitude of Judea, of 
G-reece and Rome, and from the villanage of England 
and the serfdom of E.ussio. With us the subordinate race 
is cut off' by caste. No change of legal status can change 
their actual condition. They could never be incorporated in 
the body politic, or admitted to social equality. If they re- 
mained at all, it would be as slaves, or if permitted to remain 
as free negroes, they would be free in name only, but cut off" 
from the privileges of freemen. AVe ask them to believe that 
there is as mttch humane public opinion extant with us as 
among themselves, and acknowledging the conimon depravity 
and sinfulness of our nature, we claim to be as sincere Christians 
as they. We beg them to leave the fortunes and the fate of this 
race in the hands of those upon whom they have been devolved, 
and to the good providence of that Being who has permitted the 
relation for wise and beneficent purposes, and who, caring for 
all his creatures, will either continite their dependence, or in 
His own time, and in His own wa}^, open up for them a peace- 
ful deliverance. 

I utterly deny that there is any '' irrepressible con. 



81 

ict" between the people or the states of this Union. The 
diversity of institutions, of climate and production, which 
exists among us, so far from being cause of dissension, is the 
strongest bond of natural and reciprocal dependence. The 
adamantine chains of interest would themselves hold us to- 
gether, were there not still nobler ties to aid in uniting us. 
Why, we cannot cast our eyes upon the configuration of the 
country we inhabit, the course of its rivers, the position of its 
bays, lakes and mountains, without being impressed with the 
conviction that it was designed to be the home of a great and uni- 
ted people. Why was it decreed that the Mississippi, having its 
source in a high northern latitude, should take its way south- 
ward, and, rolling its majestic flood through milder climes, 
should deliver its mighty tribute in the Gulf, almost under the 
tropics, furnishing the single outlet to the ocean of the most 
fertile and expanded basin which the sun in his diurnal circuit 
shines upon and vivifies ? Why was it ordained that its tribu- 
taries, flowing from remote head-springs on either side, and 
penetrating regions wholly dissimilar in soil and production, 
should themselves become the boundaries and ligaments of in- 
dependent states upon their margin ? Why were Virginia and 
Maryland indissolubly united by a common interest in the Po- 
tomac and the Chesapeake? Why Maryland and Pennsylva- 
nia by the Susquehanna, Pennsylvania and New-Jersey by the 
Delaware, and New- Jersey and New- York by the Hudson and 
your noble bay ? Where could the line of separation be drawn ? 
Could Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky be cut 
off from Indiana, Illinois and Ohio ? Could Virginia and Penn. 
sylvania — the great centre States of the Union, and united by 
so many memories — be sundered from each other ? And 
where, in such a family disruption, would the Emjiire State 
take her position ? Could she consent to be separated from the 



S2 



exporting States ? Could she ignore the glorious recollections 
of the past ? CoukI she forget that if it was a New-Yorker 
who led the attack on the redoubt at Yorktown, it was a Vir- 
ginian who headed the " forlorn hope " at Stony Point, the key 
to the Highlands of the Hudson ? Could she forget what 
we owe to the joint labors of her Hamilton and Jay, and our 
Madison ? or that it was here, in her great city, that Washing- 
ton was installed the first President of the United States ? 

A nation may have its birth amid the throes and convulsions 
of revolution, and spring into life at a single bound, like the fa- 
bled origin of Minerva — or, planted in weakness and colonial 
dependence, we may bo permitted to review the history of its 
growth and expansion, until, in the circle of years, it attains 
the strength and proportions of mature manhood. So, too, by 
the madness of ambition and power, a nation may be subdued 
and extinguished in a day ; or the slower workings of corrup- 
tion and misrule may preserve a miserable existence through 
centuries of decay, conducting to final and gradual extinction. 
But for a state in the prime of its vigor — in full possession of 
all the attributes of national vitality and perpetuity — having 
the duties of its rulers and the rights of its people defined and 
prescribed by a written constitution — without external pres- 
sure or violence, to come to sudden destruction by internal dis- 
memberment, would be without historic precedent, as it would 
be without rule for appreciating the infinite infamy of the act, 
or its disastrous consequences. We are not destined to such 
a catastrophe. We may be subject to the ordinary mutations 
incident to mortal existence, whether in the individual or in 
the aggregate. But this government was not formed to bo de- 
stroyed in a day. Clouds have lowered upon our horizon and over- 
spread the sky, but the star of faith has steadily held its place, 
and emitted its light through the gloom, and now the bow of 



83 

promise ami of liopo again spans the arch. I cherish the be- 
lief that this favored land is the appointed theatre for an exhi- 
bition of human greatness, and of national power and duration 
hitherto unknown upon earth. I have already adverted to the 
admirable and peculiar structure of our government, and its 
nice adaption to purposes of safety and expansion. To this 
let it be added, that its operation has been, and will continue to 
be, upon the mingled product of the best populations of the 
world, brought together in presence of the grandest scenery 
and most sublime and imposing features of nature. The in- 
fluence of admixture and of physical surroundings upon the 
dtivelopment and character of races need not be argued. Every- 
thing points to a new and improved type of mankind. A new 
world, a new race formed to inhabit it, and a new species of 
government devised to rule it, would seem to imply design and 
a new destiny. Let us trust, then, that our future is to be 
happy and glorious — that the same Almighty hand which has 
hitherto guided and protected us, will continue to hold us in its 
keeping, and that when, in some far distant age, the historian 
shall come to recount the progress of our posterity, and to de- 
scribe the condition of the multiplied millions who shall then 
occupy our places, he will be able to say that the stars and 
stripes still float over a free and united people, speaking the 
language of Shakespeare, Milton, and Burke, and of Webster, 
Calhoun, and Clay, and vexed by no question of a doubtful 
paternity, proudly cherishing the memory of their origin in 
the colonies of Jamestown and Plymouth. 



We subjoin the following correspondence between the Execu- 
tive Committee and the Hon. George W. Summers : 

Nkw-York, May IG, 1860. 
Hon. Geo. W. Summers — Dear Sir : — On behalf of the Old Dominion 
Society of New-York, wo ask, for publication, the manuscript copy of 
your address, delivered before the Society on the occasion of their first 
anniversary celebration on the 14th inst., an address which, in its various 
historical statements and eminently able treatment of all the topics em- 
braced in its scope, renders it a most fitting foundation for the annals of 
our association. "VYe trust that it will be your pleasure to accede to our 
request, and in preferring it, wc beg to tender the Society's hearty thanks 
for the care and labor bestowed in the preparation of the address. We 
venture to hope that your visit amongst us has not been without interest 
to yourself, as it has been to us all a source of real pleasure. 
Very truly, your friends and obedient servants, 
N. H. Campbell, 

Algernon S. Sullivan, Ex. Commitlee 

James A. Patteson, ■ Old Dominion Societi/, 

Wm. II. Price, of Cily of New York. 

and others, 



New-York, 1G//j May, 18G0. 

Gentlemen : — I have just received your note of this morning, request- 
ing a copy of the address which Ijhad the honor to deliver before the 
" Old Dominion Society," at its first anniversra-y celebration, on the 14th 
inst., for the purpose of publication. 

The address was prepared under the pressure of other engagements. 
and I am very sensible of its numerous imperfections; but I cheerfully 
submit it to your disposal. 

My visit to New-Y'ork has been attended with many incidents, the re- 
collection of which will be fondly cherished ; and I beg leave to tender 
to the members of your Society my grateful acknowledgments for their 
courtesy and kind attentions, and to yourselves for the very flattering 
terms in which you have been pleased to convey their wishes and jowv 
own. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

Geo. W. Summers. 



N. II. Campbell, 
A. S. Sullivan, 
Jas. a. Patteson, 
\S'm. II. Price, 

and others, 



\ Ex. Com. Old Dum. Sac, 



FIRST ANNIVERSARY BANQUET 



OLD DOMINION SOCIETY. 



On the evening of the 15th May, 18G0, the OKI Dominion Society, 
with their guests, numbering together about two hundred, assembled 
in the gi-and dining hall of the Metropolitan, at 7 o'clock, p. m. 

The room and table were superbly and tastefully ornamented, and 
the viands served up in the most approved style of IMctropolitan 
luxury. 

At the President's table there was a most artistic and beautiful 
rcpressntation of Mount Vernon, with the tomb of Washington sur- 
rounded by trees, the summer-house in front, the residence of the 
great Virginian on the summit, and the " River of Swans" rolling 
below, with a vessel steaming on its bosom. On the opposite side was 
one of the most exquisite ornaments, such as is rarely produced by 
the confectioner — a perfect representation of old 'William and 
Mary College," founded in 1G92. On the long table at the south 
side of the room, was a beautiful representation of the Washington 
Monument, at Riclimond, and on the opposite table was an equally 
fine representation of the University of Virginia, founded in 1817. 

The other ornaments were the "Natural Bridge," "Pocahontas," 
"bust of General Washington," " bu?t of John Smith," " Coat of 
Arras of Virginia," &c. 

The flags of Virginia, New- York, and of the Tliiitod Stales, were 
gracefully festooned over the east end of the room, opposite tlie 
President's seat. Under these flags, and around the whole room, the 
walls were hung with the names of places, and men celebrated in 
Virginia's history, arranged as follows : 

Behind the President's table — Newport, Kuleigh, Jamestown, 13th 
May, 1607 



88 



Behind tlic Vice-President's table — Washington, AVirt, Chiy, 
Yorktown, 19th October, 1781. 

On the north side of the room — Jefferson, ]\Ionroe, Edmund Ran- 
dolph, Winliold Scott, Leigh, Harrison, Ed. Pendleton, Geo. Wythe, 
Tazewell. 

On the south side — Peyton Pandolph, John Marshall, Geo. Mason, 
Madison, Patrick Henry, Wm. 11. Lee, Jolm l^andolph, Tyler, 
Taylor. 

The company arranged themselves in their respective seats, while 
Dodworth's celebrated band played the Old Dominion JMarch. 

The chair was taken by Col. Wra. M. Peyton, the first Vice-Presi- 
dent of the Society. He Avas supported on his right and left by the 
Hon. Geo W. Summers, the Orator of the Society, the Hon. Fernarido 
Wood, Mayor of the city, the Hon. Chas. P. Daly, Judge of Com- 
mon Pleas and President of the "Friendly Sons of St. Patrick," 
M. Hurlbut, Esq., Vice-President of the New-England Society, 
Hon. Gulian C. Vcrplanck, of the St. Nicholas Society, the Hev. 
Dr. Hoje, Chaplain of the Old Dominion Society, Richard O'Gor- 
man, Esq., of St. Patrick's Society, .James W. Girard, Esq., Hon. 
•James T. Brady, Hon. James lirooks, Col. Duryea, Col. LefFerts, of 
the 7th regiment, Benjamin Lossing, Esq., Pev. Dr. Closes Hoje of 
Richmond, &c. 

The Rev. Dr. Wm. I. Hoje said grace, when the company entered 
vigorously upon a discu.>«ion of the "creature comforts," spread be- 
fore them in such variety and profusion. When the cloth was re- 
moved, the presiding officer, Col. Peyton, announced that they would 
now read the regular toasts, and that they would be repeated by the 
Second Vice-President, ]\Ir. Campbell, at the opposite end of the 
room, before they were responded to. The glasses were then filled, 
and the following toast was read : 

FIRST TOAST. 

1. The Day we Celebrate. — Forever memorable as the day on which was laid the 
first .stone of this magnificent Temple, which has been erected and consecrated to the 
Rights of Man. A Temple which already numbers tliirty millions of worshipiiers, 
and which may be indefinitely expanded. 

Hon. Alexander Boteleh, of Virginia. 

Music — "Carrj' me back to old Virginny." 

Col. Peyton remarked, that as IMr. Boteler, of Vii-ginia, who 
was expected to respond to this toast, was not present, he would sub- 



89 

stitute, as most appropriate, a beautiful poem, furnished for tlie occa- 
sion by one of Virginia's gifted sons, and which, lie had no doubt, 
would be enjoyed as a rich treat by all present. He then requested 
the Vice-President to read it, which he did admirably, and in the 
midst of deafening plaudits. 

ViRCiixiA ! in our flowing bowls 

Thy name we would remember, 
Dear as is Plymoutli to the souls 

Of Pilgrims in December, — 
They hold their banquet as the gloom 

Of Winter round them closes ; 
Our festive board is all abloom 

With Spring's returning roses. 

The poet sings our fathers' deeds. 

Their forms and phrase outlandish, 
And 3'ct how far our age exceeds 

The age of Smith and Standish. 
The modem pilgrims journey all 

By steam o'er land and ferrj', 
And we the " Starving Time" recall 

In turtle soup and sherrj'. 

Still, something noble, we may learn, 

In yearly thus reviving 
The ^4rtucs of those settlers stern — 

Their suffering and striving. 
Our fathers wore a knightly grace 

Above their fiery passion, 
Which, like their dou])lets and their lace, 

Is sadl}' out of fashion. 

The Spaniard traces in the Cid 

The Campeador's glory. 
The stirring Niebelungen Lied 

Tells many a hero's stoiy — 
O, more than any German myth 

The highest praise deserving, 
Wlicn shall you have, brave Captain Smith, 

Your Ilalleck or yom' Irving? 

What though, indeed, you left behind 

No chivalrous descendants, 
In other daj-s a sword to find. 

And fight for independence — 
Bear witness to j'our lofty traits. 

Our proud historic pages — 
The ancient Mother of the Stales 

Shall cherish them for ages. 



90 



Your valor, proved in Paynim fights, 

And tried by wild disorder, 
With Spottswood's "Golden Horse-Shoe" Knights 

Went trooping o'er the border: 
It stood on York's embattled lines. 

With yet a presence grander, 
And still its undimmed lustre shines 

In Scott, the great Commander. 

Loved Commonwealth of boj'hood's rule ! 

What recollections cluster 
Around the whitewashed, old-field school. 

The County Court- House muster ; 
From all the city's toils and gains 

Our hearts are turning now, sirs, 
To dwell in those sweet Argive .plains 

Where first we donned the trowsers. 

Still does the wavy Ridge extend 

Its outlines soft before us — 
Still does Virginia's blue arch beud 

In tender beauty o'er us; 
The oldest exile breathes her air 

With all the latest comers, 
And here to-night we gladlj' share 

The fervor of her SujurERs ! 

"A land of just and old renown, " 

To native or to resident — 
"Where Freedom broadens slowlj' down 

From President to President — 
We change the Laureate's line — too bad ! 

But think in all her crises. 
How many Presidents she's had. 

How verjr few of Vices, 

Then, brothers of the good old State, 

Permit an absent rhymer 
To pledge the day j'ou celebrate, 

l$ut not in Rudesheimer ; 
He likes, -uhatever others think, 

Virginia's own libation, 
A whiskey julep is the drink 

That typifies the nation ! 

Tlie ice we take of liquid blue 

From Wenham's crj'stal fountains, 
The whiskey sparkles with the dew 

Of old Virginia's mountains — 
The sugar borrow without stint 

From sunnj' Opelousas, 
By every stream springs up the mint, 

From Kennebec's to Coosa's : — 



91 

Que voules-votis? 'Tis this i\'^vait — 

A -wheat straw from the prairie, 
(The Hoosier or the Sucker State, 

Their practice docs not vary) : 
Here Xorth and South and East and West 

Arc met in sweet communion — 
Now drain the cup — this toast is best, 

Virginia ^vkd tiik Union ! 

SECOND TOAST. 
The President of thk United States. 

Music — " Hail to the Cliicf. 

THIRD TOAST. 

Virginia. — The renowned ^'Afuf/na Jlate?- Vinim" — the nursery of Genius — the 
abode of Hospitality — the land of Chivalrj'. The rolls of Immortality are crowded 
with the names of her Sons, who have illustrated her virtues and won the applause of 
the world. 

Mtisic — "Home sweet Home." 

This toast was responded to by the Rev. Dr. Hoje, of Richmond, 
in a speech replete with recondite lore, wit, humor, patlios, and pat- 
riotic feeling. In his conclusion, he called up the venerable Gulian 
C. Verplanck, who entertained and instructed all, by his graphic de- 
lineations of those great men of Virginia who served with him in 
public life. 

FOURTH TOAST. 

"Washington. — " A pillar of cloud l)y day and of fire by night" in our wear\' pilgrim- 
age from Bondage to Freedom — The Palinurus of the Ship of State, Mhen first launched 
on her voyage— The Nestor, whose "Farewell" precepts afford a Talisman of suilicient 
power to shield us from danger, and secure us the noblest Destiny. 

Music— A Dirge.— Drank standing and in silence. 

FIFTH TOAST. 

"The Clergv. — Ambassadors of God, j'et citizens of the State— as citizens they 
have both rights and duties in the politics of Eartli— but wlien they stand in the pulpit 
it is their office and their glorj' to preach the truths of Kevelation." 

Music—'' Old Hundred." 

This toast was ably responded to by the Rev. Dr. Wm. G. Hoje, 
Chaplain to the Society, maintaining in impassioned eloquence his 
right and duty to exercise, with intelligence and patriotism, the elective 
franchise, but condemning, in the strongest terms, the desecration of 
the pulpit with party politics. 



92 



SIXTH TOAST. 

The Constititticn akd tiik Union. — The Ark of our Safety and the Palladium of 
our Liberties. Palsied be the tonf^ue that would lisp disloyalty to its ol)ligations, and 
withered the hand that would displace one stone from the Citadel which treasures all 
the brightest hopes of Humanity. 

CiiAitLES O'CoNOR, Esq., of New-York, 

Music — " Star Spangled Banner." 

James T. Bkauy, Esq., responded to this toast with distinguished 
ability. Tils voice was continually drowned by the irrepressible 
outbursts of the company. lie appealed with great force and power to 
all parties, to hold fast to the Constitution and the Union as the most 
glorious heritage of man. He condemned the fanaticism prevailing 
in the North, and spoke in glowing eloquence of the rights of the 
States, and the broad statesmanship of the great sons of Virginia. 
He concluded with a high compliment to the Mayor of New- York. 

SEVENTH TOAST. 

The City of Nkw-York. — The great heart of this mighty nation, which receives 
support and nourishment from its utmost extremities, and in turn, diflUses light and 
life, and health throughout the sj'stem, 

Fekn^vndo Wood, Esq., Mayor of New- York. 

Music — " Hail Columbia. " 

The Mayor, in rising to respond, was received with prolonged aj")- 
plause. lie spoke of New-York as a city which needed no apology. 
In her education, her trade, her commerce, her fidelity to the Con- 
stitution, and her wish to allow every portion of mankind the largest 
liberty, it was well known New-York was pre-eminent. He refer- 
red to the political axiom that, " those were best governed that were 
least governed," and discussed it as illustrated by New- York, draw- 
ing in favor of the city the most flattering deductions. He said that 
New- York had a glorious past, as she was the first city which made 
an armed resistance to a military power, that interfered with the 
rights of the people to elect delegates to the Colonial Assembly. He 
said that New- York spoke for herself They knew of her present — 
they knew of her past, but, he said, what imagination can compre- 
hend her future, when she would control the monetary influences of 
the world, and be the centre of trade and commerce ; an<l following 
upon that as a culminating point, when in obedience to a great law, 
she would probably fade away into an oblivion as impenetrable as 
the mystery which now shrouds Babylon or Nineveh. In conclu- 



93 

sion, he passed a warm eulogium on the statesmen of Virginia, and 
said that there was no class of citizens, in this city, who had a higher 
clann to recognition than those represented by the Ohl Dominion 
Society. 

EIGHTH TOAST. 

OuK Sister Societies — We extend them the hand of Good-Fellowship, and hope 
that Ave will never feel for Them any other Rivalry than that of Good Offices. 

The Pkksidents of the different Societies, as their names are called by the 
Presiding Officer. 

Music — "Here's a health to all." 

The President called upon the Presidents of the different Societies 
represented at the dinner, and responses were made by Mr. Ilurlbut, 
Vice-President of the New-England Society, and Mr. O'Gorman, of 
the St. Patrick's. Mr. Ilin-lbut closed his very cordial and appro- 
priate remarks by offering the following toast, which was drunk with 
great enthusiasm : 

The Ancient Cojijionwealth of Virginia — The Mother of States and Mother 
of Presidents. — The lilood poured out at Concord and at Lexington mingled with that 
shed at Yorktown, in cementing the foundations of American libertj'and union ; and the 
countrj'men of Hancock and the Adamses, of Trumbull, Stark, and Greene, claim con- 
.sanguuiity with those of Washington and Hemy, of Jefierson and tlie Lees, and will 
stand shoulder to shoulder with those of the Old Dominion in preserving that liberty 
and perpetuating that imion. 

Mr. O'Gorman responded for the St. Patrick's Society, in a st3de 
particularly felicitous. There was a genial Avarmth in all he said, 
which went right to the hearts of the Virginians. There were many 
touches of the finest eloquence, while the whole was crowned with 
an enthusiastic devotion to our government and institutions, as they 
were handed to us by our noble sires, which called forth the most 
heartfelt demonstrations from all present. He Avelcomed the Old 
Dominion Society into the ranks of the other Societies, and espe- 
cially his own, which was seventy-eight years old, and entitled by 
age to take an infant society by the hand. He alluded to the early 
history of Virginia in glowing terms, and protested with earnest 
eloquence against the possibility that this nation, which was bound 
together by such glorious associations in the past, and by such power- 
ful inducements at present and in the future, would shut its eyes to 
all reason and humanity, and madly rush into a disruption of all 
fraternal ties', and a blasting of hopes which could never again be 



94 

renewed, lie closed his noble and impassioned appeal by proposing, 
as toast, the concluding lines of the poem : 

"Here North and South, and East and "West, 
Are met in sweet coninmnion : 
Now drain the cup, this toast is best — 
Virginia and the Union !" 

The President then announced that he had, during the delivery of 
Mr. O'Gorman's speech, received a telegram from William 11. 
Macfarland, Richmond, sending the greetings of a party of gentle- 
men who were at this time honoring Mr. Thompson with a dinner. 

Col. Peyton was directed to respond by telegraph immediately, 
and the health of John R. Thompson was proj)osed by James T. 
Brady, Esq. This was received with great enthusiasm, and drank 
with nine cheers. 

NINTH TOAST. 

Hon. Geoege W. Sommers — The first Anniversaiy Orator. 

Music — "Hail to the Chief." 

To which Col. Peyton, as Presiding Officer, added : 

"The fame wliich heralded him as one of Virginia's gifted sons, gave assurance of a 
noble speech. He has more than fulfilled expectation, and placed on his brow a chap- 
Ict, the leaves of whicli will never wither." 

In rising to respond to this compliment, Mr. Summers said, that 
he never before attempted a dinner-speech, or visited this great city. 
That he was a sort of American Japanese, and when he came here 
nnd looked upon the wonders of this great metropolis, he exclaimed, 
fls did the Queen of Sheba, Avhen she saw Solomon and his Temple, 
that the half had not been told. He alluded, in eulogistic terms, to 
the names of Virginia's worthies, which were emblazoned on the 
walls of the room, and especially dwelt on the high merits of George 
Mason, of Gunston, the author of the Bill of Rights and the first 
constitution of Virginia ; Winfield Scott, the first captain of the age; 
and Henry Clay, the great commoner : all of which met a hearty 
response and loud applause from the audience. He then spoke with 
great enthusiasm of the fact, that men of all political creeds could 
come together in New- York, and at a common altar pour out liba- 
tions to the perpetuity of the Union. After such a scene as he had 
witnessed here to-night, after such sentiments as he had heard avowed 



95 

on all sides, he was firmly convinced that the Union was planted in 
the hearts of the people, and would survive every shock. Nor did 
he believe, as the mayor foi'ebodcd, that the day would ever come 
Avhen travellers would stand on the banks of the Hudson, as they 
now do on the streams which wash the walls of Babylon, and ex- 
claim — " Where is now the once great and flourishing city of New- 
York ?" That period, he said, would never happen. He looked 
forward to the time when New-York would surpass London, I'aris, 
and all the cities in the Avorld — when she would be the admiration 
of the whole globe, and the regulator of the exchanges and commerce 
of the world. 

Mr. Summers, in closing his remarks, called up Mr. J. W. Girard, 
whose disinclination to respond was only overcome by the universally- 
expressed wish that he would speak. In opening, he said, playfully, 
that this desperate call of Mr. Summers was a ruse for aid, a sort of 
" Help me, Cassius, or I sink" appeal. For twenty or thirty minutes 
he enchained the attention of all, by one of the most agreeable, slip- 
shod, discursive, humorous, witty, and patriotic impromptus of the 
evening. In the coui'se of his chai'ming rambles, he took occasion, 
with exquisite gi'ace, to strew the most beautiful flowers over the grave 
of each historic Virginian, as his name occurred. He complimented 
the intelligence and patriotism of Virginia and New- York, and 
scouted the idea of disunion while these States comprehended their 
interests, or were animated by the sentiments expressed by the several 
speakers of the evening. 

He said he had just been to Baltimore and Washington City, 
where he had mingled with a great many Virginians, and he had no 
hesitation in saying, that they had bigger hearts than other people, and 
were the most glorious fellows, altogether, that he had ever seen. Among 
others, he said, lie made the acquaintance of one of the most remark- 
able men that it had ever been his good fortune to meet. His name, 
he said, was William Gilmer, of Albemarle, Va. , which name he 
begged the reporters would take down with care. Pie then eulogized 
Mr. Gilmer with heartful earnestness, and seemed disposed to view 
him as a type of Virginia. He concluded his remarks by proposing 
the health of Mr. Gilmer, Avhich was drunk with enthusiasm. 



9G 



TENTH TOAST. 

Our Army and Navy, — The gallant seutinels of tlio nation's honor Iiy land and 1j}' 
sea — at Home and Abroad. 

Prof. IVLuiAN, of West Point. 

Music — " Yankee Doodle." 



Prof. Mahan, of West Point, in a few appropriate remarks, in which 
he dwelt on the importance of a high moral and intellectual stand- 
ard for those to whom Avere intrusted the guidance of our armies 
and the care of our national honor. Virginia, he said, had shown 
her appreciation of this, in the establishment of a military school, 
which had few equals in the world. That he had enjoyed opportu- 
nities for comparing similar institutions in Europe with ours, and he 
had no hesitation in saying, that there were only two which would 
bear comparison with the JMilitary Institute of Virginia. This tes- 
timony in favor of one of Virginia's schools, from a source entitled to 
so much consideration, was received with the liveliest demonstrations 
of satisfaction. 

ELEVENTH TOAST. 

The Jct)iciaey. — The Sheet-Anchor of our Institutions — may they ever be mindful 
of their eminent trust, and the weight}' responsibility which rests upon them. 

Music. 

This toast was responded to by Judge Daly, in a spirit which mani- 
fested a profound appreciation of the dignity and responsibility of the 
Judiciary. He pictured with a pencil of light the salutary influence 
of a wise and intelligent administration of the laws. He paid a hand- 
some compliment to seven Virginia judges : Geo. Wythe, Edmund 
Pendleton, ]5ushrod Washington, Spencer Roane, Dabney Carr, 
Philip Barbour, and St. George Tucker, who he described as bright 
planets revolving around the centre of American jurisprudence and 
source of judicial light, the peerless John Marshall. His remarks 
gave great satisfaction, and called for the warmest applause. 

TWELFTH TOAST. 

Tira Press. — The mighty engine of a free government, which crushes all opposition, 
because it speaks the omnipotent voice of the people. 
Mr. Brooks, of the Express. 

Hon. James Brooks, to whom this toast was assigned, owing to the 
latoness of the hour, had retired. 



97 



THIRTEENTH TOAST. 

Woman. — Man's solace — Flowers stre-vved along the pathway of life to cheer and en- 
courage the toilsome struggles of men. 

Music. 

This toast was responded to very felicitously by the Vice-Presi- 
dent, Mr. Campbell, who was applauded at every step most vocifer- 
ously. At the conclusion of his remarks, the Society and guests 
gradually retired from the dining-hall, after six hours of solid enjoy- 
ment. 

7 



99 



We publish the following letters received by the Executive 
Committee : 

May 15, 1800. 
To Col. Wm. M. Peyton, 

My Dear Sir : — I am sorry to say that it is not in my power to join in 
the celebration this evening. 

I had the very great pleasure of hearing Judge Summers' instructive 
and eloquent oration. I trust it will be placed in a more permanent 
form than the daily prints, and so as to be within the reach of many whoj 
like myself, will desire to preserve it. 

I am, dear Sir, yours truly, 

Ch. O'Conor. 



Sherwood Forest, April 20, 1800. 
JIy Dear Sir : — Your letter of invitation, on behalf of the Old Dominion 
Society, of the city of New-York, to attend its first celebration on the 
14th and loth of iNIay, has been duly received. My inability to accept the 
invitation is a source of sincere regret to me. I rejoice in the Associa- 
tion which you have formed, to keep in perpetual remembrance the 13th 
of May, 1607, and its lofty and inspiring incidents and results. So far, the 
settlement at Jamestown has been followed by little other than blessings 
to the race of man — what the future may unveil cannot be penetrated 
by human eyes — we can only hope that its revealings may bo as prosper- 
ous and as happy as the past has been brilliant and full of glory. 

I am, dear Sir, respectfully yours, 

J. Tyler. 
Dexter Otet, Esq. 



Washington, 24ih April, 1860. 

Dear Sir : — The invitation with which, in behalf of " the Old Dominion 
Society," you have honored me, to their intended celebration of the settle- 
ment of Virginia, at Jamestown (loth May, 1007), on the 14th and ..15th o' 
the next month, I greatly regret that I am unable to accept — engagements 
admitting of no postponement, prevent it. 

The occasion is one that challenges the approval of all who properly 
regard a great event in the histoi-y of man, so full of results important to 
his social condition and promotive of the rights vital to his happiness, and 
the furtherance of that kind of government which is best suited to pro- 
mote his prosperity and augment his legitimate political power. 



100 



The first settlers of Virginia, in all the qualities ■n-hich command admi- 
ration, had no superiors then, or since. Gentlemen by birth and education, 
having, as is ever the case v^'itli such men, a nice sense of private honor — 
they were admirably fitted to establish a State on the true foundations on 
which it should rest — private and public integrity, and a liberal and 
enlightened liberty. Nor did the spirit of the founders die with them. 
It was seen in all the preliminary proceedings to the revolution; through- 
out the tr^ang struggles of that mighty contest ; during the administration 
of that man to whom we and the world are indebted more, much more, 
than to any other who has lived in the tide of time — and during every day 
of our subsequent history. 

To his wisdom and patriotism are we, from the same cause, indebted to 
the matchless government that binds us together as one people by bonds, 
which folly, or fanaticism, or treasonable conspiracy, will in vain seek to 
sunder. 

The memory of such men as instilled these high principles into their 
posterity should ever be preserved fresh in their regard, and, at this, the 
first meeting of those of them who are now among the best citizens of a 
a sister State, it would afford me the highest gratification to be present; 
but as this is impossible, I can only return thanks for the privilege they 
have given me and remain 

Your and their friend and obedient servant, 

Eeverdy Johnson. 
Pexter Otey, Esq., 
Chairman Ex. Com. Old Dominion Society, Nciv-York. 



Boston, 3Iai/ Uth, 18G0. 
Dexter Otey, Esq., Chairman Ex. Coin. Old Dominion Society, No. 50 
Wall street, Ncio-York .■ 

Dear Sir : — Your invitation, dated 10th ultimo, to attend the first Anni- 
versary Celebration of your Society, has been duly received, and I regret 
deeply, in acknowledging the flattering request, that my engagements must 
preclude me from being present on so interesting an occasion. 

It is interesting that the children of the Elder Sister of the Confederacy 
the Commonwealth where the first permanent home of the American colo- 
nist was erected, the ever loyal and always patriotic Old Dominion — rich 
in her legendary history ; where the burning eloquence of Henry aroused 
the earliest sentiments of resistance to British oppression; where the 
Revolutionary struggle met with its triumphant vindication at the surren- 
der of Yorktown ; where those minds were taught and unfolded, which 
gave to the Union its Magna Charta in the Constitution itself, and, second 
to it only, the Farewell Address of the Saviour and Father of his Counti^ 



101 

of tbat Commomvcalth which, to-day, cherishes the glory of the past, and 
the hopes of the future, under and in that Constitution, and in the senti- 
ments of that Farewell Address ; — it is interesting that the sons and 
daughters of that old State, resident in the corumoi-cial emporium of our 
common country, should assemble, now for the first lime, to conuncmorate 
the crowding memories of two centuries and a half, and to hope and trust 
in an illimitable future as glorious as has been that past. 

I trust the voice of Massachusetts may be heard among your rejoicings. 
It is fit it should. Nearly simultaneously the hardy pioneers of each 
breasted tlie dangers of the wilderness and saA-age foes, amid difSculties 
and dishearteuings we may read of, but cannot realize. Their sympathies 
then were in unison. For more than one hundred and fifty years, side by 
side, they struggled in their upward and onward progress as sister Com. 
monwealths. Side by side, too, beneath the red-cross flag of England they 
fought against common foes, and their bones together bleached on many 
a battle field. Then, surely, their sympathies were in unison. 

At length, Avhcn in conflict for our separate existence as a nation, the 
capital of Massachusetts was in the hands of foes, Virginia sent forth her 
sons as a leader and as fellows, to free Massachusetts from the army of 
oppression. Through the dark days of the revolutionary struggle, and 
those almost as alarming, pending the formation and adoption of the 
Federal Constitution, Virginia and Massachusetts were in unison ; and 
when, at length, success crowned the struggle, while the fii'st office in the 
government was unanimously granted to the former, the second was as 
freely conceded to the latter. 

Since then a long era of kindred counsels, of mutual prosperity, and of 
united sacrifices, have promoted the happiness and indicated the patriot- 
ism of each ; and, to-day, I am sure I speak the voice of my native 
State, as well as of Virginia, when I express the earnest hope that the 
future, as the past, may ever witness mutual sacrifices, mutual sympathy, 
mutual forbearance, and mutual prosperity. 
I remain, ver}^ truly. 

Your obedient servant, 

Henry J. Gardner. 



II.\RTFORD, 3Iay 9th, 18G0. 
Dear Sir : — 1 have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
obliging invitation in behalf of the "Old Dominion Society'' of the City 
of New-York. In reply, I beg to assure you, that I take a great interest 
in all that concerns the history of Virginia, and shall be most happy to 
unite with you in your " First Anniversary Celebration" of the settlement 
of Virginia at .Jamestown. Nothing, I trust, will prevent me from meet ' 
ing with your Society, at Cooper's Institute, on the 14th inst., Avheu an ad- 
dress is to be delivered by the lion. Mr. Summers. I shall not, however, 



102 



owing to engagements at home, be able to remain over to the afternoon of 
the 15th inst., the time set apart for your Anniversary dinner. 

The founders of your native State, like those -who first settled in Massa- 
chusetts, were among the most enterprising and richly endowed, by nature 
and education, of all the emigrants who earliest came to this new world. 
If Plymouth and its environs have a charm for Massachusetts men, James- 
town has one no less powerful for the sons of Virginia. Nor is the interest 
which is felt, in either of these consecrated localities, exclusively confined 
to the people of the States in which these memorable landing places are 
found. On the contrary, it is an interest in which the people of this 
country claim to have an equal share. From the settlement at James- 
town, and the kindred settlement at Plymouth, came the strength, physi- 
cal, intellectual, and moral, which, in time, gave us a name, Independence, 
and a Union ! God grant that, in recalling the devotion, the sacrifices, 
the valor, and the patriotism of the first settlers of America, we may re- 
new our vows to preserve what they have handed down to us. 
Respectfully, your obedient servant. 

Thos. II. Seymour. 
To D. Otey, 
Ch. Ex. Com. Old Dominion Society, ij-c, tj*c. 



Boston, 4th May, 18G0. 
Dear Sir : — I had the honor, some time since, to receive your note of 
the 10th of April, and I have delayed my answer, in the hope that it 
might be in my power to accept your kind invitation for the 14th and 
15th. It would give me great pleasure to unite with the " Old Domipion 
Society," in celebrating the settlement of Jamestown. Earely have I 
passed so delightful a day as that which I spent about two years ago, in a 
visit to the venerable spot. I sincerely regret that engagements at home 
will prevent my enjoying the gratification of listening to Mr. Summers' 
oration, and participating in the festivities of the 15th. 

With great respect, very faithfully yours, 

Edward Everett. 
Dexter Otey, Esq. 



Washington, April 19, 1860. 
Dexter Otey, Esq., &c. 

Dear Sir : — I am in receipt of an invitation of " the Old Dominion 
Society" of your city, to be present at their first anniversary celebration 
of the settlement of Virginia, at Jamestown. 

The memories which your anniversary Avill freshen, will present an un- 
broken record, of which every Virginian may be proud, and, amid *' the 



103 



feast of reason and the flow of soul'' which will enliven the occasion, must 
invigorate our determination to reverence the dear old mother of us all — 
to remember her teachings ; to imitate her example ; and, by every means 
in our power, to exalt, if possible, her already illustrious name. 

But I cannot be with you. My, too frequently unhappy, duties here 
will not allow me to leave them. And I must close with the expression 
of my regrets that I must decline your cordial invitation. 

I am, my dear sir, very truly yours, 

Wm. Smith. 



IIousK OF Representatives, 

Washington, D. C, May 7th, 1860. 

Dear Sir : — I owe you an apology for not replying at an earlier date 
to your kind invitation, as Chairman of the Old Dominion Society, to be 
present at their first anniversary celebration, on the 14th and 15th inst. 
And in extenuation of this seeming neglect, I can only beg to assure you 
that my delay proceeded from my great desire to accept your invitation ; 
and an extreme unwillingness to decline the same, as long as there was 
even a possibility that my duties here would permit me to absent myself 
at that time. And I can only regret that as the time approaches so 
nearly, I find it will be impossible for mc to be with you on that interest- 
ing occasion. 

I regret this the more deeply, inasmuch as the orator of the occasion, 
the Hon. Geo. W. Summers, is one whom I have had the pleasure to know 
from my boyhood, and to appreciate not the less for his glowing elo- 
quence than for all those qualities which you know we are vain enough 
to suppose, in the Old Dominion, constitute the " true Virgimnn." 

Be pleased to tender for me to the " Society of the Old Dominion," my 
grateful appreciation of its invitation, and accept for yourself my thanks 
for the kind and polite manner in which you were pleased to convey 
the same to mc. I remain, 

Your obd't serv't, 

A. G. Jenkins. 



Peakland, Bedford Co., Va., April 23, 1860, 
To Dexter Otey, Esq., Chairman Executive Committee 
'•' Old Dominion Society. " 
Dear Sir : — Mj time will be so fully occupied with the business of the 
Court of an a<ljoining county, that I shall be unable to unite with the 
Old Dominion Society on the 14th and 15th May next, in New- York, to 
celebrate the settlement of Virginia, at Jamestown, two hundred and fifty- 
three years previous to the time indicated. 

I should be much pleased to be with you, to recall the incidents of a 



104 



period in our old mother's history so very reraote ; and I am gratified to 
see and to be assured that she is remembered by all her sons, Ayhcreyer 
they may be. Virginia is still the land of their love — the home of their 
hearts; and I here will say with you, God bless her, now and forever. 

I am, very respectfully, 

Wm. L. Goggin. 



Staunton, Ya., 3Iu)/ 12th, 18G0. 

Mr. Dexter Otey — Dear Sir : — Some weeks ago I had the honor to 
receive your invitation, on behalf of the Old Dominion Society of the City 
of New-York, to attend their celebration of tlie anniversary of the settle- 
ment of Virginia. I delayed my response to it to the last moment, in the 
hope that I might be able to attend. Having failed, however, to make the 
arrangements which I had proposed, all that remains for me is to tender 
to you, and those you represent, my cordial thanks for the honor you have 
conferred on me, and to express my regret that I cannot participate in 
your festivities. 

It is gratifying to every Virginian, to know that the sons of the Old 
Dominion, Avhcrever they may be led to seek their fortunes, still cherish 
sentiments of afiection for the land of their birth. The memories of child- 
hood still retain their brightness, and the associations of youth continue 
to cluster around their hearts. Nor are feelings like these at variance 
with their allegiance to the State of their adoption. The man who can 
forget the country that gave him birth has none of the elements of true 
patriotism in his nature. 

Fortunately, you have been enabled, through the wisdom and virtue of 
our fathers, to leave Virginia without leaving your country. The stars 
and stripes of the glorious Union still float over you, and love for Virgi- 
nia is entirely compatible with affection for New- York. Long may this 
condition of things endure ! Long may the countrymen of Washington and 
Madison claim kindred and fellowship with the descendants of Hamilton 
and Jay ! Palsied be the arm that would seek to sever, or to enfeeble the 
the sacred ties that now bind together the Empire States of the north and 
the south ! No two States contributed more than New-York and Virgi- 
nia to form the glorious confederacy under which we have lived so hap- 
pily for three quarters of a century. Let us prove that we are not de- 
generate sons of noble sires, by upholding and defending the Constitution 
and the Union " at all hazards, and to the last extremity !" In conclu- 
sion, I offer you a sentiment : 

" New- York asd Virginia — The homes of Hamilton and Madison. M.aj- the work 
of their illustrious sons endure forever." 

Very truly yours, etc , 

Alex. IL IL Stuart. 



105 

New-York, April, 1860. 
Dexter Otey, Esq., Chairman Executive Commiltcc 
" Old Dominion Society." 

My Dear Sir : — Accept my many thanks for the honor of an invitation 
to unite with your society in the celebration of your first anniversary, on 
the 14th and 15th of nest month ; and he assured of my deep regret in 
being obliged to decline so great a pleasure ; but my arrangements are 
such, that I shall be out of town from the 14th to the close of the 
week. 

I ofier you the homage of my love and veneration for the Old Dominion, 
so rich in its contributions to the glory of my country, and propose a 
sentiment, which should be acceptable to all : 

"ViuamiA — Tho mother of Washington, and guardian of his grave; to her our 
countr}' looks for the best teachings of political wisdom, and the best examples of pat- 
riotic devotion." 

Tory respectfully, 

Your obed't servant, 

Geo. W. Bethune. 



EiciiMoxD, lOtk Mai/, 1800. 
My Dear Sir : — I have deferred making a reply to the polite invitation 
with which you have honored me, in behalf of the Old Dominion Society 
of New-York city, in the hope that I might be able to accept it. But 
finding this impossible, I write to offer my best thanks for your courtesy, 
and my sincere regrets that I cannot be with you on an occasion of so 
much interest as your approaching anniversary. I venture to send you 
some rambling lines, to be read, should the proper opportunity arise at 
the dinner, and remain, my dear sir, 

With the highest regard. 

Yours, very truly, 

J NO. II. Thompson. 
Dexter Otey, Esq. 



Navy Yard, 10th May, 18G0. 

Dear Sir : — I have delayed replying to the very obliging invitation of 
the Executive Committee of the " Old Dominion Society,'' to join with 
them on the 14th and 15th instants, in celebrating its first anniversary, in 
the hope that I might be enabled to avail myself of it, but exceedingly 
regret to find, at this late hour, that circumstances will not permit me the 
enjoyment of that pleasure. 

I beg the Committee will excuse the delay in replying to your note, for 
the reason above alleged ; and if I might be permitted to do so, I would 
ask the Society's leave to ofier for its acceptance this sentiment : 



106 

"The Old DosnxroN State — The recollection of her glorious achievements in peace 
and in war, will ever be the 'fierj' cross' on her hill tops, to summon her sons to sus- 
tain their ancient renown, and to emulate their fathers' fame and patriotism." 

; I am, Sir, 

Very respectfully, 

Your obed't servant, 

Saml. L. Breeze, 
To Dexter Otey, Esq., Chairman Ex. Committee 
" Old Dominion Socicti/," 

No. 50 Wall street. 



Richmond, April 18th, ISGO. 
Dear Sir : — Your polite invitation, on behalf of tlie Old Dominion So- 
ciety, to attend its celebration of the settlement of Virginia, on the 14th 
of May next, has been received. 

I thank you and your Society for your kind remembrance. I regret it 
will not be in my power to join my brothers of Virginia, now resident be- 
yond her bounds, in rejoicing over an event which, to us, is so full of his- 
toric interest. 

What magnificent issues have resulted from that feeble beginning ! 
"What luminous names upon the page of the world's history follow in the 
train of reflection suggested by your anniversary ! Can it be denied 
that the most illustrious man of the Western world, if not of modern 
times, sprang from the race planted at Jamestown ? Can it be doubted 
that the highest form of civilization, the best frame of government, have 
been developed from that seedling ? and that though it was the least of 
all seeds, it promises to be the greatest of all trees, under whose' shadow, 
and upon whose branches, nations may rest in peace, unity, and pros- 
perity ? 

In the conservation of the great principles our fathers have established, 
Virginia looks to her sous abroad and at home. Submissive to her teach- 
ings, we may. by unity of effort, effect much in the restoration of the peace 
of the country upon a basis sound and permanent, because just and con- 
stitutional. 

I wish for your Society all of pleasure it may hopefully anticipate in 
its celebration ; and your brothers, at the hearthstone of our common 
mother, send greeting to those far away but not severed from it. 

I am, 

With kind regard. 

Your friend, 

J. R. Tucker. 
Dexter Otey, Esq., Chairman of Committee 
" Old Dominion Society.'^ 



107 



Richmond, 1th Blay, 1860. 
Dear Sir : — I may ha pardoued,! hope, for ■withholding until noAV my re- 
ply to the very polite invitation of the Old Dominion Society of New- York. 
At the time of its reception my engagements did not admit of a positive 
acceptance — which I trusted, however, it might still bo in my power to 
send in due time. In this I am disappointed. I can only beg, therefore, 
that you will present my grateful thanks to your Society for their kind 
attention, and sincere regret that I am unable to join them on. an occasion 
so interesting to every son of our " Old Dominion." 

Hoping the day of your meeting may prove one of unalloyed enjoy- 
ment, I am, 

With great respect, 

Yours truly, 

John Robertson. 



Richmond, April 18t/i, 18G0. 

Dear Sir : — Your kind invitation to me to be present at the celebration 
of the first anniversary of the Old Dominion Society is thankfully received. 
I regret my inability to attend. 

As a son of Virginia, whose heart throbs in unison with all who may 
wish to pay honor to her, I would rejoice to be present, to celebrate her 
birth, her youth, her vii'gin purity, her gathered honors in maturity, and 
if it may be, her eternity of existence. I would delight to unite in com- 
memorating all that is honorable and beautiful in her history, from James- 
town to Yorktown, from Yorktown throughout this continentj*ibr. tier 
name and fame are interwoven with all that is noble and glorious in our 
colonial and national annals. I would rejoice to hear her eulogy pro- 
nounced by her gifted son, George W. Summers, in the great city of the 
Empire State, and it would add to the enjoyment to know, that New-York 
participates enthusiastically in restoring the fraternal concord of better 
days, when love between sister and sister Avas equal to love for self, and 
when the desire for harmonious union was greater than the Utopian idea 
of universal emancipation. Accept my thanks. 

Very respectfully, 

George W. Munford. 
Dexter Otey, Esq. 

Chairman of Ex. Com. Old Dominion Society, New-York. 



Berryvii.i.e, Clarke Co., Va., 3Iay !Jth, 1860. 
Chairm.an of the Ex. Com. of the Old Dominion Society. 

Dear Sir : — Yours of April 10th, without signature, is just received. 
Please tender to the Society my thanks for their invitation to their celc- 



108 



bratlon and festivities, and express my regret that engagements, made a 
few days previous to its receipt, would render my acceptance impossible. 
My thanks arc also due to you for your hospitable manner of communi- 
cating the invitation. If not improper, I offer the sentiment below. 

Yours truly, in haste, 

JosiAii W. Ware. 

Thi>: Old Dominion Society of New-Tork — A Society free from sectionalism. 
May its formation anil operation be extensive enougli to correct the tendency to sec- 
tionalism througliout the Union, and bmig about a more patriotic feeling of devotion 
to the Union evcrj-where, by generous support of the Constitution and laws, without 
evasion or reservation. 



New-York, May 15, 18G0. ) 
5 o'clock, P. 31. \ 

My Dear Sir : — I am greatly disappointed to find, at this late hour, 
that I am most unexpectedly prevented availing myself of the invitation of 
the " Old Dominion" Society, by circumstances entirely beyond my control. 
The St. Nicholas Society most cordially welcomes her sister. 
With great respect, 

Your oliedicut servant, 

Hamilton Fish. 
Dexter Otey, Esq., 

Chairman, &c., &c. 



New-York, 3Iay 5, 1860. 
Dear Sir : — I have the honor to accept the invitation of the Old 
Dominion Society to their first anniversary, on the 14th and 15th inst. 

1 remain, your oljcdieut servant, 

A. Norrie, 
Prcs. St. Andrew's Society. 
Dexter Otey, Esq.. 

Clbairman Ex. Com. 

I have also, on behalf of my Society, to thank you for the invitation 
you have extended to its members to hear Mr. Summers' address on that 
occasion. A. Norrie. 



New-York, April, 2G, 18G0. 
Dexter Otey, Esq. : 

Dear Sir : — I duly received your kind invitation, and will be most 
happy to be of the number to listen to your famed orator, George W. 
Summers, on far-fixmed old Virginia. I dare not say I can attend the fee- 



109 

tival of the 15th. Sad causes have forbid mc, for some time past, to 
entjer into scenes of dietetic hihxrity ; but I must see how matters stand 
when nearer the period of the consummation of the event. 

With profound regard and appreciation of your courteous invitation, 

I remain, very truly yours, 

John W. Francis. 



New-York, May 12th, 1860. 
Dexter Otey, Esq., 

Ch. Committee Old Dominion Society. 
Dear Sir: — I accept with great pleasure, in the name of the French 
Benevolent Society, the invitation which you extend to me, as President 
of said Society, to join the Old Dominion Society on the 14tL and 15th 
May. 

I am personally happy to participate in this celebration, and meet in a 
friendly manner the worthy sons of the Old Dominion. 
Very respectfully yours, 

E. COUSBURG. 

Prcs't French Benevolent Society. 



Barboursville, May 5th, 1800. 
Dexter Otey, Esq. 

Dear Sir:— I sincerely regret that I am at length obliged to decline 
your kind invitation to attend the anniversary celebration of the Old 
Dominion Society in New-York. Until this moment I had hoped to be 
able to accept it. 

I am sure that I am indebted to you, individually, for this polite at- 
tention, and it revives the pleasant memories of 1844. Accept my best 
wishes for your welfare. 

B. J. Barbour. 



Letters of apology were also received from the Hon. Greene C. Bron- 
son, Hon, J. P. Benjamin, United States Senate, lion. Daniel Dickinson, 
Hon. G. A. Bayard, John G. Saxe, Esq., Col. Belton, U. S. A., Major H. 
L. Scott, U. S. A., L. Thomas, Esq., Hon. John B. Floyd, INIajor Thomas 
n. Holmes, Hon. G. II. Hammond, United States Senate, Hon. Muscoo 
Garnett, Gen. James Garland, U. S. A., Hon. Roger A. Pryor, Hon. 
Shelton F. Leake, Hon. C. L. Vallandingham, Hon. J. S. Millson, Capt. 
R. M. Meade, U. S. N., Rev. Henry E. Montgomery, Archbishop Hughes. 



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